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GLIMPSES 



Celestial Country: 






YOUNG PILGRIMS. 







PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 1334 Chestnut Street. 



BV^oT 

.S3 



The irifttas* 

of Cong n rss 

WASHINGTON 



Copyright, 1883, by 

the trustees of the 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



^ 



PREFACE. 



Death is seldom welcome to the 
young, because they have not yet 
learned by experience the falsity of 
the world's promises and the faithful- 
ness of God. This life glows before 
them with rosy light, while the life 
beyond lies in shadow. 

The Bible is full of rich promises for 
every need, and of glimpses of a future 
whose glory and happiness transcend 
our highest conceptions. But sickness, 
with its material needs, its absorbing 
anxiety and little cares, leaves no time 
for quiet thought and study. 



4 Preface. 

These texts and selections have been 
arranged for reading to young invalids, 
in the earnest hope that for some timid 
souls they may lighten the valley of 
the shadow of death with God's sun- 
shine. C. B. S. 



GLIMPSES 



CELESTIAL COUNTRY. 



CHAPTER I. 

" Leaves have their time to fall, 

And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath, 
And stars to set ; but all, 

Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death !" 
Mrs. Hemans. 

The sweet south wind was wakening 
bud and blossom. The soft, fragrant 
air, the warm, quiet light, comforted 
me, until life seemed full of pleasant 
possibilities ; but this note from the 
only child of my dead friend darkened 
the sunshine : 

5 



Glimpses of 



" Please come to me at once, dear 
auntie. I am in sore trouble. 

"Alice." 

I found her alone, only servants to 
minister to the motherless girl. She 
wept long in my arms before she could 
speak; and, caressing her soft hair, I 
silently prayed that the way might be 
smoothed to her tender feet, and that 
the Spirit of light and consolation would 
guide me. 

"Auntie, the doctors say I can live 
only a few weeks. Think of it ! I must 
die before summer. And the grave is 
so dark and cold ! I am afraid." 

" Yes, the grave, my darling ; but 
you will not enter it. You will be car- 
ried at once by angels into Abraham's 
bosom as Lazarus was. Still better, 
the dear Saviour said, ' I go to prepare 
a place for you. I will come again and 



The Celestial Country. 



receive you unto myself, that where I 
am, there ye may be also.' Only the 
worn-out body, the ' cast-off dress,' lies 
unconscious in the grave until the res- 
urrection." 

With a vague hope of mistake or 
remedy, I took the carriage and went 
at once to the family physician. 

" Nothing can be done except to alle- 
viate any pain," he said; "the vital 
powers are exhausted. The first hot 
weather will be trying. You remember 
the old adage about getting up May 
hill?" 

" Dear child !" I said ; " I am come 
to stay with you. Baby is to be sent 
here, and I have arranged with your 
father and the housekeeper. Tell me 
anything I can do for you, for I belong 
to you now." 

The girl's face flushed : 

" You dear auntie !" 



8 Glimpses of 

" Yes, darling ; we love each other, 
and our greatest pleasure is to comfort 
one another as Paul directs. You see, 
he did not believe in a gloomy religion. 
Now comfort me by taking a nap ; you 
are exhausted with grieving." 

In the quiet, darkened room, my fin- 
gers, perfume-dipped, softly stroking 
the hot forehead, Alice slept long and 
sweetly. 

" I did not sleep a bit last night," she 
said, excusingly, when, rested and quiet- 
ed, she opened her eyes, to find me still 
beside her. " The doctor came in the 
afternoon, and I cried myself into a 
headache; then Jane had the room 
too hot, and the fire shone into my 
eyes." 

" Neither did you eat any breakfast. 
Now spare me a moment, and then 
please me by eating what I bring." 

The scalded egg and thin toast were 



The Celestial Country. 



ready in a moment, and eaten with rel- 
ish. Then Baby's cooing contented 
her for a while. Suddenly she said, 

" If I only knew ! I am sure I love 
Jesus — how could I help it, since he 
first loved me ? — but heaven is so far off 
and seems so cold and unreal ! I love 
to pat this little soft, warm baby-hand 
and to hold your strong one, but I am 
going into a world of spirits. It chills 
me. Can you touch a spirit, kiss it, 
clasp it, as I do Baby ? Yes, I know 
mother is there ; but she died so long 
ago that I can dimly remember her, and 
she would not know me. Besides, she 
is a saint now ; she would not want to 
kiss and cuddle me. She would rather 
stand before the great white throne and 
sing praises. Oh, I think it will be 
fearfully lonely up there !" 

" My darling, have you forgotten that 
God is our Father, Christ our Brother? 



10 Glimpses of 

He calls the Church his bride : the love 
that you have read and dreamed about 
as most satisfying to our hungry hearts 
is a faint type of what he gives his peo- 
ple : ' Greater love hath no man than 
this, that a man lay down his life for 
his friends.' Did not Christ take little 
children in his arms ? Did not John 
lean upon his bosom ? Was not even 
Judas allowed to kiss him ? Dear child, 
I have known the love of father and 
mother, of brother and sister, of lover 
and friend and husband ; but no love 
seems to me so full, so rich, so unselfish, 
so tender, so self-sacrificing, so thought- 
ful and comforting, as that love of the 
dear and glorious Trinity — the Father 
caring for us with a tender care that 
numbers even the hairs of our head ; 
the Spirit comforting ' as a mother com- 
forteth ;' the Saviour dying for us be- 
cause he so loved us that he could not 



The Celestial Country. 



be content in heaven without us. My 
lammie, you forget !" 

Alice was weeping softly, like a com- 
forted child. 

" You can never go beyond God's 
care ; he will never cease to love you. 
All things work together for your good, 
even this trial, even sickness and death. 
To quote again : 'All things are yours ; 
whether life or death, or things present 
or things to come ; all are yours, and 
ye are Christ's and Christ is God's.' " 

" Oh, auntie, it is the quoting I like 
best. When you say things that comfort 
me, I cannot help thinking sometimes 
that your wish brightens them for me, 
and so what is not real seems real to 
you ; but when you quote the Bible, I 
am sure. I wish you would find out all 
the Bible says of death and heaven and 
read it to me. Verses are so scattered, 
and I am too tired to hunt them up." 



12 Glimpses of 

Evening always found our invalid too 
weary to sleep, yet restless from ner- 
vousness ; so we aired and darkened 
the room early, placing a lamp with 
night-shade on a small table near the 
head of her bed, where no ray could 
fall upon her pillow. Each night her 
father or I read to her until she was 
soothed; then some book without in- 
terest was read slowly, in a low, monot- 
onous tone, until sleep came, when I 
took the lamp and left her. She pre- 
ferred to be alone at night. Always 
careful to save others trouble, she had 
a candle and matches, a glass of milk 
or water and some simple remedies 
near her ; only rarely did her little bell 
sound at night, and I slept near enough 
to hear it and reach her quickly. 

The hymns she liked best I write 
down, in hope that they may be as 
soothing to other dear sufferers. 



The Celestial Country. 13 

Oh, fear not thou to die ! 

Far rather fear to live ; for life 
Has thousand snares thy feet to try 

By peril, pain and strife. 
Brief is the work of death, 

But life — The spirit shrinks to see 
How full, ere God recalls the breath, 

The cup of woe may be. 

Oh, fear not thou to die ! 

No more to suffer or to sin, 
No snare without, thy faith to try, 

No traitor heart within ; 
But fear — oh, rather fear — 

The gay, the light, the changeful scene, 
The flattering, smiles that greet thee here 

From heaven thy heart to wea*. 

Oh, fear not thou to die — 

To die and be that blessed one 
Who in the bright and beauteous sky 

May feel his conflict done, 
May feel that nevermore 

The tear of grief, of shame, shall come 
For thousands wandering from the Power 

Who loved and called thee home. 

Anon. 



14 Glimpses of 

Thy wisdom and thy word 
Created me. Thou source of life and good, 

Thou Spirit of my spirit and my Lord, 
Thy light, thy love, in their bright plenitude, 

Filled me with an immortal soul, to spring 
Over the abyss of death, and bade it wear 

The garments of eternal day, and wing 
Its heavenly flight beyond this little sphere, 

Even to its source — to thee, its Author — there. 

From the Russian of Gabriel Derzhavin. 



The Celestial Country. 



CHAPTER II. 

" It is as natural to die as to be born, and to an 
infant one may be as painful as the other." — Lord 
Bacon. 

We began our daily readings at Gen- 
esis : " In the day that thou eatest there- 
of thou shalt surely die." 

"You see, death is a curse," said 
Alice. 

" Yes, the death they died in the day 
they disobeyed. God's punishment for 
the sin was first enmity and temptation 
from the serpent — the devil ; then toil, 
sorrow, pain, subjection and, saddest 
of all, estrangement from God and ban- 
ishment from Eden, where God had 
walked with them as a friend. Merci- 
fully was death added to end these woes, 
to break the prison-bars. 



1 6 Glimpses of 

" Directly after this curse Adam 
changed his wife's name from Isha, 
the feminine of 'man,' to Havah, or Eva, 
' life,' because she was to be the mother 
of Christ who is our life, little dreaming 
of the long years of sin and sorrow that 
must pass before the world would be 
ready for his coming. Will not heaven 
more than repay for the lost Eden, since 
the loving Saviour will be its light ? 

"The first death was a murder and a 
martyrdom, when the dead was blessed 
and the living cursed with banishment 
from God's presence. Love took Enoch 
from earth when almost as young, com- 
paratively, as you. Adam lived nine 
hundred and thirty years, dying only 
fifty-seven years before Enoch's birth, 
and Methusaleh — Enoch's son — lived 
nine hundred and sixty-one years ; yet 
because Enoch pleased God he was 
early translated. After he had walked 



The Celestial Country. ly 

with God three hundred and sixty-five 
years he was not, for God took him. 

" Long life is promised in the Bible 
because men desire it, but it is an old 
adage, ' Whom the gods love die young.'* 
If only we could become holy here and 
fulfill the end of our creation, to glorify 
God ! But sin and failure are far hard- 
er to bear than pain or sorrow. Even 
as eminent a Christian as the apostle 
Paul cried out, ' The good that I would 
I do not ; but the evil which I would 
not, that I do. For I delight in the 
law of God after the inward man ; but 
I see another law in my members, war- 
ring against the law of my mind, and 
bringing me into captivity to the law 
of sin which is in my members. O 
wretched man that I am ! who shall 
deliver me from this body of death ? 
We that are in this tabernacle do groan 
being burdened.' 
2 



1 8 Glimpses of 

" The Rev. Joseph Cook says, ' I be- 
lieve solemnly that I shall never cease 
to regret any fault which I outgrow. 
It always will be to me a thing that 
ought not to have been, and my future 
will have rays of bliss taken off it by 
every sin I have committed ; and that 
will be true no matter what God does 
for me.' * 

" Will not those be happiest who car- 
ry with them fewest regrets ? 

" You will think, ' I have never done 
anything very wrong, and perhaps those 
who have known me all my life would 
say the same; yet there are years I 
would be glad to blot out, because in 
them I came so far short of my ideal. 
There are dear friends in heaven to 
whom, it now seems to me, my first 
words will be " Forgive me." ' 

* Orthodoxy, p. 17. 



The Celestial Country. 19 

" Then, too, youth is buoyant and 
enjoys with such pure pleasure ! All 
the senses are keener. Often I think 
what rapture your little sister must 
have felt on entering heaven, she loved 
birds and flowers and music so in- 
tensely." 

" Birds and flowers !" 

" Why, my darling, did not God cre- 
ate them ? Has he not covered even lone 
prairies with exquisite flowers that no 
eye but his own rests on ? Are we not 
promised the tree of life with twelve 
kinds of fruit? 

" ' If God has made this world so fair, 
Where sin and death abound, 
How beautiful beyond compare 
Will Paradise be found !' 

" Recollect, too, how full of life you 
were a year ago, so that mere motion 
was pleasure ; you sang, as the birds 
do, because you couldn't help it. Your 



20 Glimpses of 

father was anxious to take you to Eu- 
rope, because, he said, you would enjoy 
everything so much more then than 
you could in after-years. 

w Now lay down this weary, aching 
body and assume a new spiritual body ; 
let the soul have the joy of an exquisite 
surprise ; give it the love and the com- 
panionship of dear friends made perfect ; 
give it an atmosphere of exhilaration — 
the assurance that no sin or sorrow will 
be possible, and that all this is to be 
eternal. Rest now, Alice, and fancy 
yourself in heaven. 

" How many chapters of genealogy, 
each record ending, 'And he died ' ! No 
wonder that Joshua said, ' I am going 
the way of all the earth.' Reading the 
Pentateuch we realize somewhat the 
apostle's meaning, ' Christ brought life 
and immortality to light through the 
gospel.' How the hopes and fears of 



The Celestial Country. 21 

the Israelites seemed limited by the 
boundaries of Caanan and ended at the 
grave, unless the care to be buried with 
their fathers and to carry up the bones 
of Joseph from Egypt implied hope of 
the resurrection ! 

"The rewards and punishments prom- 
ised were temporal, as we treat children 
now. The heathen Balaam gives the 
first hint of difference at death between 
the righteous and the wicked. ' Let me 
die the death of the righteous, and let 
my last end be like his.' David gives 
the first clear expression of hope be- 
yond the grave. When the little child 
he loved was sick, he wept and prayed 
for its life ; but when it died, he said, 
' He is dead, wherefore shall I fast? I 
will go to him.' How different from the 
wail over Absalom ! because, dying in 
direct disobedience, David felt that he 
was lost for ever." 



Glimpses of 



"Are you not forgetting that beauti- 
ful passage in Job, ' I know that my 
Redeemer liveth ' ? In Abraham's time, 
wasn't it?" 

" No, dear. I used to think it won- 
derful that Job had so much clearer 
vision of the Messiah than Moses had, 
and that he expressed the doctrine of 
the resurrection as now understood. 
But, carefully studying the whole book, 
it becomes evident that Job had not 
the clear understanding of these things 
which his words, as rendered in our 
English Bible, seem to import. He 
does not see beyond the grave, though 
he longs and yearns after a sight of the 
time, even after his poor body shall have 
perished, when he shall stand justified 
by God. His faith in God was strong ; 
he believed that his Redeemer lived and 
would vindicate him, though how he 
did not know. Other Old-Testament 



The Celestial Country. 23 

writers give utterances more distinct. 
The psalmist says : ' Into thy hands I 
commit my spirit.' * Sanctified by 
Christ upon the cross, these words 
have been the last utterance of thou- 
sands of saints, going not alone into 
an unknown future, but into the hands 
of a loving Father. 

" ' Death seems but a covered way 
Which opens into light, 
Wherein no blinded child can stray 
Beyond the Father's sight.' " f 

This was the gem of our evening 
reading : 

I lay me down to sleep 

With little thought or care 
Whether my waking find 
Me here, or there. 

My half-day's work is done, 
And this is all my part ; 

*Ps. xxxi. 5. f Whittier. 



24 Glimpses of 

I give a patient God 
My patient heart, 

And grasp his banner still, 

Though all its blue be dim ; 
These stripes, no less than stars, 
Lead after him. 

Weak, weary and uncrowned, 

I yet to hear am strong ; 
Content not even to cry, 

" How long ? How long ?" 

Anon. 



The Celestial Country. 25 



CHAPTER III. 

" Jerusalem the Golden ! 

Methinks each flower that blows, 
And every bird a-singing, 

Of the same secret knows. 
I know not what the flowers 

Can feel, or singers see ; 
But all these summer raptures 

Are prophecies of thee." 

After days of dreary, drizzling rain 
came a morning that seemed to have 
mistaken April for June, birds twitter- 
ing, flowers blowing and the sun " re- 
joicing as a strong man to run a race." 

Alice felt every sweet influence, and 
as she sat in her reclining-chair at the 
open window said, 

" Let us read glad things to-day, 
auntie.*' 



26 Glimpses of 

" Glad things are ordered for us," I 
said. " Hopes and promises, sent by 
the Author of the sunshine and the 
flowers, come just in the course of our 
reading. Could anything be brighter 
than, these verses ? — 

" Psalm xvi. 1 1 : 'In thy presence is 
fullness of joy, at thy right hand are 
pleasures for evermore.' 

" Psalm xvii. 15 : ' I shall behold thy 
face in righteousness ; I shall be satis- 
fied when I awake with thy likeness.' 

" Psalm xxiii. 4 : ' Though I walk 
through the valley of the shadow of 
death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art 
with me, thy rod and thy staff they 
comfort me.' 

" Psalm xlix. 15 : ' God will redeem 
my soul from the power of the grave, 
for he shall receive me ' — receive me 
at once to heaven. 

"Psalm lxviii. 17: 'The chariots of 



The Celestial Conntiy. 27 

God are twenty thousand, even thou- 
sands of angels. The Lord is among 
them as in Sinai, in the holy place.' 

" Psalm lxxiii. 24-26 : ' Thou shalt 
guide me with thy counsel, and after- 
ward receive me to glory. Whom have 
I in heaven but thee ? and there is none 
upon earth that I desire beside thee. 
My flesh and my heart faileth : but God 
is the strength of my heart, and my 
portion for ever.' 

"Psalm ciii. 12-14: 'As far as the 
east is from the west, so far hath he 
removed our transgressions from us. 
Like as a father pitieth his children, so 
the Lord pitieth them that fear him. 
For he knoweth our frame ; he remem- 
bereth that we are dust.' 

"Psalm cxvi. 15: 'Precious in the 
sight of the Lord is the death of his 
saints.' 

"Psalm cxliii. 10: 'Thou art my 



28 Glimpses of 



God, thy spirit is good; lead me into 
the land of uprightness.' 

" Ecclesiastes xii. 7 : ' Then shall the 
dust return to the earth as it was : and 
the spirit shall return unto God who 
gave it,' not sleep with the body in the 
grave. 

"Isaiah xl. 11,29: ' He shall feed 
his flock like a shepherd : he shall 
gather the lambs with his arm, and car- 
ry them in his bosom. He giveth pow- 
er to the faint ; and to them that have 
no might he increaseth strength.' 

" Isaiah xliii. 1, 2: 'Fear not: for I 
have redeemed thee, I have called thee 
by thy name; thou art mine. When 
thou passest through the waters, I will 
be with thee; and through the rivers, 
they shall not overflow thee; when 
thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt 
not be burned ; neither shall the flame 
kindle upon thee.' 



The Celestial Country. 29 

" Isaiah xliii. 25 : 'I, even I, am he 
that blotteth out thy transgressions for 
mine own sake, and will not remember 
thy sins.' 

" You see, it is his happiness to do 
good : he blots out our transgressions 
because he ' delighteth in mercy.' 

" Isaiah li. 6, 1 1 : ' The heavens shall 
vanish away like smoke, and the earth 
shall wax old like a garment, and they 
that dwell therein shall die in like man- 
ner : but my salvation shall be for ever, 
and my righteousness shall not be abol- 
ished. The redeemed of the Lord shall 
return, and come with singing unto 
Zion ; and everlasting joy shall be upon 
their head : they shall obtain gladness 
and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall 
flee away.' 

" Isaiah liv. 10 : ' For the mountains 
shall depart, and the hills be removed ; 
but my kindness shall not depart from 



30 Glimpses of 

thee, neither shall the covenant of my 
peace be removed, saith the Lord that 
hath mercy on thee.' 

" So also the writer of the forty-sixth 
psalm, with a kindred faith to that of 
Isaiah, cries out exultingly, ' God is our 
refuge and strength, a very present help 
in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, 
though the earth be removed, and 
though the mountains be carried into 
the midst of the sea.' * 

" Isaiah lx. 19 : 'The sun shall be no 
more thy light by day; neither for 
brightness shall the moon give light 
unto thee : but the Lord shall be unto 
thee an everlasting light, and thy God 
thy glory.' 

" Isaiah lxiv. 4 : ' For since the be- 
ginning of the world men have not 
heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither 

*Ps. xlvi. i, 2. 



The Celestial Country. 31 

hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, 
what he hath prepared for him that 
waiteth for him.' 

" Daniel xii. 2 : ' Many of them that 
sleep in the dust of the earth shall 
awake, some to everlasting life, and 
some to shame and everlasting con- 
tempt.' 

" Hosea xiii. 14 : ' I will ransom them 
from the power of the grave ; I will re- 
deem them from death.' 

" Micah vii. 18, 19: 'Who is a God 
like unto thee, that pardoneth iniqui- 
ty, and passeth by the transgression of 
his people, because he delighteth in 
mercy ? He will turn again, he will 
have compassion upon us ; he will 
subdue our iniquities, and then will 
cast all their sins into the depths of 
the sea.' 

" Nahum i. 7 : ' The Lord is good, a 
strong hold in the day of trouble ; and 



32 Glimpses of 

he knoweth them that trust in him/ 
To be his friends, we have only to trust 
and follow him. 

"Malachi iii. 1 6, 17: ' Then they that 
feared the Lord spake often one to an- 
other : and the Lord hearkened, and 
heard it, and a book of remembrance 
was written before him for them that 
feared the Lord, and that thought upon 
his name. And they shall be mine, 
saith the Lord of hosts, in that day 
when I make up my jewels ; and I will 
spare them, as a man spareth his own 
son that serveth him.' The same idea 
in Isaiah lxii. 3 : ' Thou shalt also be a 
crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, 
and a royal diadem in the hand of thy 
God.' Here was no service, no special 
attainment. They simply feared the 
Lord ; they thought and spoke often 
of him. Yet the Lord ' hearkened ' to 
hear it; still more, he had a book of 



The Celestial Country. 33 

remembrance written, and for only this 
he calls them his jewels." 

" What a lovely day this has been!" 
said Alice as I sat down for our even- 
ing reading. " ' He giveth power to the 
faint ; and to them that have no might 
he increaseth strength.' David says, 
' Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through 
thy works.' He has made me very glad 
through the words we read to-day, and 
very strong. It does seem to me that 
I shall never again feel as gloomy as I 
have felt. He is so kind and loving 
that I will trust and not be afraid. Now 
read, dear." 

I SHALL BE SATISFIED. 
Not here ! not here ! Not where the sparkling waters 

Fade into mocking sands as we draw near ; 
Where in the wilderness each footstep falters. 

I shall be satisfied, but oh, not here. 

There is a land where every pulse is thrilling 
With raptures earth's sojourners may not know; 
3 



34 Glimpses of 



Where heaven's repose the weary heart is stilling, 
And peacefully life's time-tossed currents flow. 

Thither my weak and weary feet are tending : 
Saviour and Lord, with thy frail child abide ; 

Guide me toward home, where, all my wanderings 
ending, 
I there shall see thee, and be satisfied. 

TENDER MERCIES. 
Tender mercies on my way, 

Falling softly like the dew, 
Sent me freshly every day, 

I will bless the Lord for you. 

Though I have not all I would, 
Though to greater bliss I go, 

Every present gift of good 
To eternal Love I owe. 

Source of all that comforts me, 
Well of joy for which I long, 

Let the song I sing to thee 
Be an everlasting song. 

Waring. 

LIKE AS A FATHER. 
Like as a father, when his children weary 

In the dim path he knows so straight and plain, 



The Celestial Country. 35 

Pities their sorrows, knows how sad and dreary 
Life seems to them, yet leads them on again, 

E'en so our Lord, in this our time of sorrow, 

When our hearts faint and all earth's wells seem 
dried, 

Pities his children, and doth let us borrow 

Help from that heaven where our hearts abide. 

He knows our frames ; he knows we are but groping, 
As children in the darkness, for his hand : 

He leads us on, not seeing, only hoping, 
And waiting patiently for his command. 

Mary W. M'Lain. 



$6 Glimpses of 



CHAPTER IV. 

" The tender mercy of our God, whereby the 
Dayspring from on high hath visited us. To shine 
upon them that sit in darkness and the shadow of 
death; to guide our feet into the way of peace." — 
Luke i. 78, 79. 

"Auntie," said Alice as, after a sleep- 
less night, she lay weak and faint, " was 
Jesus ever sick ?" 

" We do not know. His life was hard 
— full of toil and poverty and self-denial, 
as the carpenter's son. It may be that he 
was not strong ; after the long journeys 
on foot he was weary and exhausted. At 
the garden of Gethsemane his mental 
agony forced the blood in great drops 
through the skin ; so much stronger 
was the spirit than the sensitive body. 
After the night of trial, of cruel scourg- 



The Celestial Country. 37 

ing and mocking, he was too weak to 
bear his cross. Nailed then upon it, 
the agony of pain, the desertion of the 
Father, leaving him to bear our sins 
and the sorrow he felt for the guilty 
world, even for his murderers, wore out 
the delicate frame. When the soldiers 
killed the two thieves by breaking their 
legs, Christ was already dead ; and so 
the scripture was fulfilled : 'A bone of 
him shall not be broken.' You know 
that for centuries the paschal lamb was 
a type of his sacrifice, and no bone of 
that could be broken. Surely he knows 
what weakness and pain are, and pities 
your suffering even while he sees it 
needful. 

" I am glad our reading to-day is of 
this dear Saviour. Matthew, Mark and 
Luke tell of Christ's transfiguration, 
and that Moses and Elijah appeared in 
glory and ' spake of his decease which 



38 Glimpses of 

he should accomplish at Jerusalem.' 
They came as glorified spirits, showing 
that the soul enters heaven at death, 
that it assumes a spiritual body, and 
also that our friends there know some- 
thing of what is passing on earth. 

" We come now to Christ's own 
words. 

" Matthew vi. 19, 20 : ' Lay not up for 
yourselves treasures upon earth, . . . but 
lay up for yourselves treasures in heav- 
en, where neither moth nor rust doth 
corrupt, and where thieves do not break 
through nor steal' Acceptance with 
Christ is treasure in heaven which can 
be neither corrupted nor stolen. 

"John iii. 36: ' He that believeth on 
the Son hath everlasting life/ hath, not 
shall have. 

" John v. 24 : ' He that heareth my 
word and believeth on Him that sent 
me hath everlasting life ' — that is, the 



TJie Celestial Country. 39 

soul has eternal life as soon as it be- 
comes united to Christ ; it cannot die, 
and the body shall be raised. 

"John iii. 28, 29: 'The hour is com- 
ing, in the which all that are in the 
graves shall hear his voice and shall 
come forth ; they that have done good 
unto the resurrection of life, and they 
that have done evil unto the resurrec- 
tion of damnation.' We are rewarded 
for what we have done, not for what we 
have professed. 

" John vi. 54 : ' Whoso eateth my 
flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eter- 
nal life; and I will raise him up at the 
last day.' Flesh and blood of Jesus 
mean the atonement of which they were 
the price : our redemption was pur- 
chased by his body broken and his 
blood shed for us. As this salvation 
satisfies our longing souls, we are said 
to feed upon Jesus ; so eating his flesh 



4° Glimpses of 



and drinking his blood means believing 
in him as our Saviour. Probably the 
figure of food was used, I. To teach us 
that we must desire him : ' Blessed are 
they which do hunger and thirst after 
righteousness ;' 2. We must accept Je- 
sus for ourselves, as only the food we 
eat nourishes us; 3. As we enjoy food 
and drink, so we must delight in him ; 
4. We must grow in grace by loving 
and following him, as the body grows 
by eating food. There is a story that 
some artificial bees were made to move 
so naturally that the wise man whose 
wisdom they were intended to test 
could not distinguish between them 
and the real bees; so he had honey 
placed before them, when the live bees 
went at once to it. Except we desire 
to feed on Christ, except we delight 
in him, we have no spiritual life. 
" John x. 27-29 : « My sheep hear 



The Celestial Country. 41 

my voice, and I know them, and they 
follow me ; and I give unto them eter- 
nal life and they shall never perish, 
neither shall any man pluck them out 
of my hand. My Father, which gave 
them me, is greater than all, and no 
man is able to pluck them out of my 
Father's hand.' An Eastern shepherd 
does not drive his sheep : he calls each 
sheep by name, and they follow eager- 
ly, because he pets them as an Arab 
does his horse. God gave us to Christ, 
and therefore he will watch that noth- 
ing shall take us from him : 

" ' His honor is concerned to save 
The meanest of his sheep.' 

"John xi. 25, 26: 'I am the resur- 
rection, and the life : he that believeth in 
me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
live ; and he that liveth and believeth 
in me shall never die.' 



4 2 Glimpses of 

" Matthew xvi. 27 : ' The Son of man 
shall come in the glory of his Father, 
with his angels, and then he shall re- 
ward every man according to his works.' 

" Matthew xiii. 43 : ' Then shall the 
righteous shine forth as the sun, in the 
kingdom of their Father.' 

" Luke xii. 32 : ' Fear not, little flock, 
it is your Father's good pleasure to give 
you the kingdom.' 

" Luke xv. 10: 'There is joy in the 
presence of the angels of God over one 
sinner that repenteth.' Not joy of the 
angels alone, then; may it not be joy 
of watching friends ? 

" Luke xvi. 22 : ' The beggar died, 
and was carried by the angels into 
Abraham's bosom.' 

" Luke v. 8 : ' Blessed are the pure 
in heart; for they shall see God.' 

"Matthew xxii. 30, 32: 'In the res- 
urrection they neither marry nor are 



The Celestial Country. 43 

given in marriage, but are as the angels 
of God in heaven. I am the God of 
Abraham and the God of Isaac and the 
God of Jacob ; God is not the God of 
the dead, but of the living ' — that is, 
though the bodies of Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob had long been dust, yet their 
souls were living when God spoke to 
Moses. 

" Luke xx. 35, 36: ' They that are ac- 
counted worthy to obtain that world and 
the resurrection from the dead, neither 
marry nor are given in marriage ; nei- 
ther can they die any more ; for they are 
equal unto the angels ; and are the chil- 
dren of God.' 

" Matthew viii. 1 1 : ' Many shall come 
from the east and west, and shall sit 
down with Abraham and Isaac and 
Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.' 

" Matthew xii. 50 : ' Whosoever shall 
do the will of my Father which is in 



44 Glimpses of 



heaven, the same is my brother and 
sister and mother.' Jesus does not say 
' shall be,' but ' is.' He is often called 
our Elder Brother. David says, ' In 
all their afflictions he was afflicted.' 
He is /a Brother born for adversity.' 
You have had almost a brother in your 
cousin Frank, but now the ocean di- 
vides you ; he can give you only the 
scant sympathy of letters, and he can- 
not help you. But this dear Elder 
Brother lives to intercede for you, 
watches over you, hears every sigh 
and knows every wish. He will ' guide 
you with his counsel and afterward re- 
ceive you to glory.' Are you still afraid 
of being lonely in heaven ?" 

Alice's glad smile answered me. 

" Matthew xix. 13, 14: 'Then were 

there brought unto him little children, 

that he should put his hands on them 

and pray; and the disciples rebuked 



The Celestial Country, 45 

them. But Jesus said, Suffer little chil- 
dren and forbid them not to come unto 
me ; for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven.' 

" Matthew xviii. 4 : ' Whosoever shall 
humble himself as a little child, the same 
is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.' 

" Luke xxii. 30 : ' That ye may eat 
and drink at my table in my kingdom.' 

" Matthew xxvi. 29 : * I will not drink 
henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until 
that day when I drink it new with you, 
in my Father's kingdom ' — symbols, at 
least, of feasting. 

" John xv. 9 : 'As the Father hath 
loved me, so have I loved you.' To 
understand this we must try to see how 
and why God loved Christ. David calls 
him ' thine Holy One ;' Peter, ' thy 
Holy Child Jesus.' John calls him 
' the only begotten Son which is in the 
bosom of the Father.' At Christ's bap- 



46 Glimpses of 

tism came a voice from heaven : 4 This 
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased.' Again, at the Transfiguration : 
1 This is my beloved Son, hear him.' 

" Second Corinthians iv. 4 : ' Christ, 
who is the image of God.' 

" Colossians i. 15, 19: 'The image 
of the invisible God; all things were 
created by him and for him.' 

"John iii. 35 : 'The Father loveth 
the Son and hath given all things into 
his hand.' 

"Hebrews 1.3, 8-12: 'Who being 
the brightness of his glory, and the ex- 
press image of his person, and uphold- 
ing all things by the word of his power, 
when he had by himself purged our 
sins, sat down on the right hand of the 
Majesty on high. Unto the Son he 
(the Father) saith, Thy throne, O God, 
is for ever and ever ; a sceptre of right- 
eousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 



The Celestial Country. 47 

Thou hast loved righteousness, and 
hated iniquity ; therefore God, even thy 
God, hath anointed thee with the oil of 
gladness above thy fellows. And thou, 
Lord, in the beginning hast laid the 
foundations of the earth ; and the heav- 
ens are the works of thine hands : they 
shall perish ; but thou remainest ; and 
they all shall wax old as doth a gar- 
ment ; and as a vesture shalt thou fold 
them up, and they shall be changed ; 
but thou art the same, and thy years 
shall not fail/ 

" Hebrews vii. 26 : • Holy, harmless, 
undefiled, separate from sinners and 
made higher than the heavens.' 

"Jude 25 : 'The only wise God, our 
Saviour.' Now, are not these wonder- 
ful words? 'As the Father hath 

LOVED ME, SO HAVE I LOVED YOU.' 

" John xv. 11: ' These things have 
I spoken unto you, that my joy might 



Glimpses of 



remain in you, and that your joy mi^ht 
be full.' 

" John xv. 13 : ' Greater love hath no 
man than this, that a man lay down his 
life for his friends.' 

" John xvi. 26 : ' I say not I will pray 
the Father for you ; for the Father him- 
self loveth you, because ye have loved 
me.' 

" John xvii. 20, 2 1 , 24 : ' Neither pray 
I for these alone, but for them also which 
shall believe on me through their word ; 
that they may be one in us. Father, I 
will that they also whom thou hast given 
me, be with me where I am ; that they 
may behold my glory, which thou hast 
given me.' 

11 John xiv. 2, 3 : ' In my Father's house 
are many mansions ; if it were not so I 
would have told you. I go to prepare 
a place for you. And, if I go and pre- 
pare a place for you, I will come again 



The Celestial Country. 49 

and receive you unto myself; that where 
I am there ye may be also.' Many man- 
sions ! These wonderful verses are full 
of suggestions. May not heaven be 
more homelike than we have supposed ? 
— a city of beautiful and spacious homes? 
Yet not uniform like our city homes : 
for each one a place prepared. When 
we receive valued guests, we use the 
same language — preparation to meet 
their tastes and habits. He who made 
and watches over us knows what will 
make us happy — knows the ungratified 
longings we tell no one. What sur- 
prises of pleasure may he not be pre- 
paring for us there ! Nor will he let 
our hopes be disappointed, for he said 
expressly to his disciples, ' If it were 
not so, I would have told you.' 

" The Rev. Dr. Babb says, ' We can- 
not doubt that the homes of the saints 
will be adapted to their individual tastes 
4 



SO Glimpses of 

and capacities for enjoyment. I believe 
that there will be delightful surprises in 
those homes ; that the happy spirit will 
say, " How thoroughly my Saviour 
understands me, and what personal 
thoughtfulness and affection he has 
shown in preparing a place for me ! 
He has cared for me as fully and as 
tenderly as if I were the only object 
of his love." ' 

" ' Till Death the weary spirit free, 

Thy God hath said, " 'Tis good for thee 
To walk by faith, and not by sight." 

Take it on trust a little while ; 
Soon shalt thou read the mystery right, 

In the full sunshine of his smile.' " * 

MY HOME IS OX THE OTHER SIDE. 
Wounded in fight beside the Nile, 

Out of the watching and the strife, 
A soldier sought his English home 

To spend his last few days of life. 

* Keble. 



The Celestial Country. 5 1 

So young, so brave, and yet he knew 
The days were numbered he could live, 

And glory seemed so vain a thing, 
And fame could little comfort give. 

Not fearing, but yet longing sore 

For just one word of peace and love 
That unto him, and him alone, 

Might seem a message from above. 
He sought it in the calm, fresh morn, 

And in the sunset's dying flame, 
From holy priest, in holy book ; 

But it was thus the message came : 

One summer eve he paused to rest 

Beside the church's holy place 
Just when the gloaming still and dusk 

Threw over all its mystic grace. 
Then came a little peasant-child 

And opened wide the churchyard gate. 
' Do you not fear," the soldier asked, 

" To cross when it is dark and late ?" 

She lifted up a smiling face, 

And in a pleasant voice replied : 
' Oh no ! Besides, I have to cross : 
My home is on the other side" 



52 Glimpses of 

Then on she went her lonely way; 

Her form was lost amid the gloom ; 
She never knew her simple words 

Had lit his pathway to the tomb. 

He took the message calm and sweet, 

And ever after to his rest 
He went with unreluctant feet : 

The words kept singing in his heart ; 
They were his comfort and his guide, 
And at the last he whispered clear : 
" O soul ! the road thou needst not fear; 
Thy home is on the other side." 

Mary A. Barr. 



The Celestial Country. 53 



CHAPTER V. 

" My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me." 
— John x. 27. 

After giving Alice her breakfast, I 
went, at her desire, to see the dear old 
lady whom we both call grandma, al- 
though heart-ties are the only bond. 

Nearly eighty years of life's changes, 
its labors and sorrows, of death of dear- 
est friends and loss of property, have 
left her lonely, sad, bedridden and suf- 
fering from hopeless disease. But her 
trust in Jesus is firm and simple as a 
child's. She might say, 

"Only waiting till the angels 
Open wide the mystic gate, 
At whose portals long I've lingered, 
Weary, poor and desolate. 



54 Glimpses of 



Even now I hear their footsteps 

And their voices far away ; 
If they call me, I am waiting — 

Only waiting to obey." 

Continually she prays, " Dear Father, 
take me home." The other day, in de- 
lirium, she called often for her husband : 

"Why doesn't he come? I always 
came when he called me." 

Her only child— a delicate, loving 
woman — said, 

" Mamma dear, don't you remember? 
Papa has been in heaven a great many 
years." 

" In heaven ! Why, that's just where 
I want to be. Why didn't he take me 
with him ? Why didn't anybody tell me 
he had gone there ?" 

Often she does not know her own 
child, but Jesus is always near and pre- 
cious. Her life has been full of good 
deeds. " She has lodged strangers, has 



The Celestial Country. 55 

brought up children " — three different 
sets of orphans, besides her own large 
family — has been foremost in every 
good work in our city for fifty years. 
I am sure she will have a crown full of 
stars and an abundant entrance into the 
heavenly kingdom. And yet, as my 
heart aches over her sufferings, I thank 
God that our Alice is not to travel the 
same long, weary road or endure as in- 
tense suffering. All who love her join 
in her prayer: " Come, Lord Jesus, 
come quickly." 

We talked so long of her that but 
little time was left for our reading, and 
I chose a passage that her life seemed 
to illustrate : 

" ' When the Son of man shall come 
in his glory, and all the holy angels 
with him, then shall he sit upon the 
throne of his glory. And before him 
shall be gathered all nations ; and he 



5 6 Glimpses of 



shall separate them one from another, 
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from 
the goats. And he shall set the sheep 
on his right hand, but the goats on the 
left. Then shall the King say unto 
them on his right hand, Come, ye bless- 
ed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
prepared for you, from the foundation 
of the world ; for I was an hungered, 
and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, 
and ye gave me drink ; I was a stran- 
ger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye 
clothed me ; I was sick, and ye visited 
me ; I was in prison, and ye came unto 
me. Then shall the righteous answer 
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee 
anhungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, 
and gave thee drink ? When saw we 
thee a stranger, and took thee in? or 
naked, and clothed thee ? Or when saw 
we thee sick or in prison, and came unto 
thee ? And the King shall answer and 



The Celestial Country. 57 

say unto them, Verily I say unto you, 
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one 
of the least of these my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me/ " 

Alice's face became anxious, then 
distressed : 

"Auntie, I have never done it even 
to one of the least. I have every com- 
fort, and yet think only of myself and 
what may come to me here and here- 
after. Now let us stop our readings and 
obey. Can't you find some poor sick 
girl who loves Jesus, or some child ? 
Please go at once. Take my purse, 
and papa will give me more. If only 
you could bring some one here — some 
stranger, hungry and naked and poor 
and sick ! I can't visit any one in pris- 
on now. How selfish I have been!" 

Surely God directed us. The pastor 
of a mission church at once sent me to 
a poor house where the orphan child 



58 Glimpses of 

of Christian parents was breaking her 
heart with grief and loneliness. Glad 
to meet every wish of his darling, Alice's 
father allowed me to install her in one 
of the unoccupied rooms and treat her 
as his child. 

With solemn joy Alice learned that 
this girl was indeed one of Christ's 
little ones of whom he said, "Their 
angels do always behold the face of my 
Father," that this loving Father had 
accepted her desire to serve him, and 
also used her to answer the dying pray- 
er of the mother. She took these high 
favors as fresh evidence of her accept- 
ance in the Beloved. 

Then, too, little orphaned Amy's 
daily visits to the sick-room comforted 
both. Well trained, gentle and loving, 
the child's heart opened like a bud in 
sunshine, and comfort and hope brought 
back health. 



The Celestial Country. 59 

As my darling paled and wasted be- 
fore me, the slender limbs each day 
softer to my touch, it sometimes gave 
a pang to my heart to see Amy's face 
glowing with life and vigor. If only I 
might have all the suffering ! 

But, as her outward man perished, 
the inward man was renewed day by 
day. Desire of life and fear of death 
equally ceased to disturb her. The 
peace that passeth understanding was 
in her gentle manner and her clear, 
quiet tones : " Peace I leave with you ; 
my peace I give unto you ; not as the 
world giveth, give I unto you. Let 
not your heart be troubled, neither let 
it be afraid." * 

One evening I read her these lines, 
as they seemed so clearly to express 
her own feelings: 

* John xiv. 27. 



6o Glimpses of 

MY VESPER SONG. 
Filled with weariness and pain, 

Scarcely strong enough to pray, 
In this twilight hour I sit — 

Sit and sing my doubt away. 
O'er my broken purposes, 

Ere the coming shadows roll, 
Let me build a bridge of song : 

" Jesus, Lover of my soul, 



" Let me to thy bosom fly." 

How the words my thoughts repeat ! 
To thy bosom, Lord, I come, 

Though unfit to kiss thy feet. 
Once I gathered sheaves for thee, 

Dreaming I could hold them fast ; 
Now I can but idly sing, 

" Oh, receive my soul at last." 

I am weary of my fears, 

Like a child when night comes on; 
In the shadow, Lord, I sing : 

" Leave, oh, leave me not alone." 
Through the tears I still must shed, 

Through the evils yet to be, 
Though I falter while I sing, 

" Still support and comfort me. 



The Celestial Country. 61 

" All my trust on thee is stayed." 

Does the rhythm of the song, 
Softly falling on my heart, 

Make its pulses firm and strong ? 
Or is this thy perfect peace, 

Now descending while I sing, 
That my soul may sleep to-night 

" 'Neath the shadow of thy wing" ? 

" Thou of life the fountain art " 

If I slumber on thy breast; 
If I sing myself to sleep, 

Sleep and death alike are rest. 
Through the shadows overpast, 

Through the shadows yet to be, 
Let the ladder of my song 

" Rise to all eternity." 

Note by note its silver bars 

May my soul in love ascend, 
Till I reach the highest round, 
In thy kingdom without end ! 
Not impatiently I sing, 

Though I lift my hands and cry, 
' Jesus, Lover of my soul, 
Let me to thy bosom fly !" 

Mary R. Butler, 



62 Glimpses of 



I know not what the future hath 

Of marvel or surprise, 
Assured alone that life and death 

His mercy underlies; 
And if my heart and flesh be weak 

To bear an untried pain, 
The bruised reed he will not break, 

But strengthen and sustain. 

And so, beside the silent sea, 

I wait the muffled oar ; 
No harm from him can come to me, 

On ocean or on shore, 
I know not where his islands lift 

Their fronded palms in air : 
I only know I cannot drift 

Beyond his love and care. 

Whittier. 



The Celestial Country. 63 



CHAPTER VI. 

" Oh, change ! Oh, wondrous change ! 
Burst are the prison-bars ! 
This moment there so low, 
So agonized, and now 
Beyond the stars !" 

Caroline Southey. 

Every pleasant morning Alice's fa- 
ther carried the frail child to a lounge 
placed in the sunshine near the house, 
where she lay protected by shawls from 
the spring winds. 

Amy was always delighted to see her 
dear friend out of doors, and continually 
brought flowers, pebbles or leaves to 
amuse her. Suddenly she rushed to 
me in agony : 

" Only see, auntie, what Bridget did." 



64 Glimpses of 

In her small palm lay a downy yellow 
young chicken crushed and quivering. 
" Do help it," she begged ; " it is in such 
pain !" 

The large watering-pot stood near, 
filled with water to warm in the sun. 
Instantly I wrapped my handkerchief 
around the little suffering thing and 
plunged it deep under the water; in a 
moment it was still. And now the 
thought that it was in tender pity our 
Father would take away the light of 
our eyes filled mine with tears. 

" Yes, auntie," said the sweet girl, 
who had been watching me : " ' He 
giveth his beloved sleep.' " 

"As our Saviour hung upon the cross 
between two thieves one reviled him, 
but the other prayed, ' Lord, remem- 
ber me when thou comest in thy king- 
dom. And Jesus said unto him, Ver- 
ily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou 



The Celestial Country. 65 

be with me in Paradise ' — Christ's own 
assurance that the soul enters heaven 
at death, instead of waiting in some inter- 
mediate state or sleeping in the grave. 

" Mark xv. 34: 'Jesus cried, My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' 

" Isaiah says, ' He hath borne our 
griefs and carried our sorrows ; ... he 
was wounded for our transgressions, he 
was bruised for our iniquities : the chas- 
tisement of our peace was upon him ; 
and with his stripes we are healed. All 
we like sheep have gone astray; we 
have turned every one to his own way ; 
and the Lord hath laid on him the in- 
iquity of us all.' * 

" ' Immanuel's orphaned cry 

The universe hath shaken ; 
It went up single, echoless : 
" My God, I am forsaken !" 

* Isa. liii. 4-6. 



66 Glimpses of 

It went up from the holy lips 

Amid his lost creation, 
That, of the lost, no son should use 

Those words of desolation.' * 

"Christ satisfied justice; he will not 
let the penalty of our sins be laid on us 
if we have accepted him as our Saviour. 
He knew, too, the horrors of loneliness, 
and so promises his people, ' I will come 
again and receive you unto myself.' 

"Never have I known this promise 
to fail. Friends who, through fear of 
death, were all their lifetime subject to 
bondage, have gone peacefully into the 
dark valley and joyfully away from loved 
ones. Sometimes they spoke of seeing 
the invisible; oftener joy came after 
speech failed; but none went alone. 

" Nor is death often painful : 'A Phil- 
adelphia physician has made a special 
study of the phenomena of death, both 



* Mrs. B 



rowning. 



The Celestial Country. 67 

through his personal observations and 
those of others, and his conclusion is 
that dissolution is painless, that it ap- 
proaches as unconsciously as sleep. 
The soul leaves the world as painlessly 
as it enters it. Whatever be the causes 
of death, whether by lingering malady 
or sudden violence, dissolution comes 
either through syncope or asphyxia.' 
Often the mind is unusually clear and 
the soul eager and loving, showing that 
it does not fail and die with the body ; 
but the senses are dulled, the nerves 
torpid, and pain ceases. Most of my 
friends have said loving words of part- 
ing and gone quietly to sleep, as de- 
scribed in this little poem by Al- 
drich : 

" ' Her sufferings ended with the day; 
Yet lived she at its close, 
And breathed the long, long night away 
In statue-like repose. 



68 Glimpses of 

" ' But when the sun in all his state 
Illumed the eastern skies, 
She passed through glory's morning gate 
And walked in Paradise.' 

" Persons who have been brought 
back by effort from apparent death say 
that only the recovery was painful. 
Dying, to them, had been falling asleep. 

" ' If I could hold a pen, I would 
write how easy and delightful it is to 
die,' said the celebrated William Hun- 
ter. 

"An excellent clergyman was asked 
by a friend what he felt at the near ap- 
proach of death. He answered, ' In- 
tense curiosity.' ' Higher ! higher still !' 
were the last words of another. 

"A lovely young relative was suffer- 
ing from consumption, but we hoped 
she would yet live many months. One 
sunny morning she breakfasted with 
the family and rested on the sofa dur- 



The Celestial Country. 69 

ing prayers, enjoying the worship. Her 
good brother then started to the stable 
to hasten the carriage for her morning 
ride. It was near, but he had not reach- 
ed it when they called him. Quickly 
he was at her side : ' Clara! dear Clara!' 
Ah ! the pitying Saviour had been care- 
ful to save his gentle child one moment's 
suffering. So instantly had he taken 
her that the answering smile, as her 
brother went, had not yet left her face. 
" Mrs. Julia M'Nair Wright describes 
another such death as follows : ' The 
soul strove for its departing dominion 
over the body. It was full strange to 
see those fleeting faculties return at 
some master-summons. He spoke : " I 
did not know that on earth one could 
feel so glad at heart as I do now." His 
face fairly shone with a strange joy, 
and all at once he seemed to see 
through depths of some bright dis- 



;o Glimpses of 

tance ; and as he looked the light of 
life seemed not to shrink back toward 
a failing heart, as I have marked others 
die, but in that bright smile and eager 
gaze to pass out and be away, as I 
have seen birds lift up from pleasant 
nooks of earth and be lost in sunny- 
spaces.' 

" The Rev. Dr. S. W. Fisher taught 
that from the analogy of God's dealings 
with us here it was probable we should 
at first be surrounded by familiar faces 
only, and by them be introduced by de- 
grees to the glories that might other- 
wise overwhelm us, just as the babe 
meets only loving care, and gradually 
learns the new, bewildering life." 

Our evening reading was on the 
same subject: 

SCENES ON JORDAN'S STRAND. 
There came a little child with sunny hair 

All fearless to the brink of Death's dark river, 



The Celestial Country. yi 

And with a sweet confiding in the care 

Of Him who is of life the Joy and Giver, 
And as upon the waves she left our sight 
We heard her say, "My Saviour makes them 
bright." 

Next came a youth with bearing most serene, 
Nor turned a single backward look of sadness ; 

But as he left each gay and flowery scene 

Smiling declared, " My soul is thrilled with 
gladness. 

What earth deems bright for ever I resign, 

Joyful but this to know — that Christ is mine." 

An aged mourner trembling tottered by, 

And paused a moment by the swelling river, 

Then glided on beneath the shadowy sky, 

Singing, " Christ Jesus is my strength for ever ! 

Upon his arm my feeble soul I lean ; 

My glance meets his without a cloud between." 

And scarce his last triumphant note had died 
Ere hastened on a man of wealth and learn- 
ing* 
Who cast at once his bright renown aside, 
These only words unto his friends returning : 
' Christ for my wisdom thankfully I own, 
And as a little child I seek his throne." 



72 Glimpses of 

Then saw I this — -that whether guileless child, 

Or youth, or age, or genius, won salvation, 
Each self-renouncing came, on each God smiled ; 
Each found the love of Christ rich compensa- 
tion 
For loss of friends, earth's pleasures and renown ; 
Each entered heaven and " by his side sat down." 

Anon. 

THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 
I have made thee my choice, 

O Jesus divine ! 
And my heart shall rejoice ; 

Thy love it is mine, 
Though I walk in the darkness, 
And walk to my death. 

My soul, like a fountain, 

Springs upward to thee, 
And I on the mountain 

Of Zion would be, 
But I stand in the valley — 
The valley of death. 

Descend, angels, this hour, 

Through storm-clouds that roll ; 

As a little white flower, 
Come gather my soul ; 



The Celestial Country. 73 

Bear it up on your pinions, 
The swift wings of death. 

My full heart is yearning, 

A censer of love ; 
The sunset is burning 

Like incense above. 
'Tis his token, and gladly 
I walk to my death. 

Anon. 

THE LONG "GOOD-NIGHT." 
I journey forth rejoicing 

From this dark vale of tears 
To heavenly joy and freedom 

From earthly bonds and fears, 
Where Christ our Lord shall gather 

All his redeemed again, 
His kingdom to inherit. 
Good-night till then ! 

I go to see his glory 

Whom we have loved below ; 
I go the blessed angels, 

The holy saints, to know. 
Our lovely ones, departed, 

I go to find again, 
And wait for you to join us. 
Good-night till then ! 



74 Glimpses of 



I hear the Saviour calling; 

The joyful hour has come : 
The angel-guards are ready 

To guide me to our home, 
Where Christ our Lord shall gather 

All his redeemed again, 
His kingdom to inherit. 
Good-night till then ! 

Oh, heaven is nearer than mortals think 
When they look with a trembling dread 

At the misty future that stretches on 
From the silent home of the dead. 

No heaven is near us ; the mighty veil 

Of mortality blinds the eye, 
That we cannot see the angel -bands 

On the shores of eternity. 

The eye that shuts in a dying-hour 

Will open the next in bliss ; 
The welcome will sound in the heavenly world 

Ere the farewell is hushed in this. 

We pass from the clasp of mourning friends 
To the arms of the loved and lost, 

And those smiling faces will greet us there 
Which on earth we have valued most. 






The Celestial Country. 75 

I know, when the silver cord is loosed 

And the veil is rent away, 
Not long and dark shall the passage be 

To the realms of endless day. 

"IT IS I; BE NOT AFRAID."* 

These raging winds, this surging sea, 

Bear not a breath of wrath to thee ; 

That storm has all been spent on me : 

'Tis I j be not afraid. 

Mine eyes are watching by thy bed, 
Mine arms are underneath thy head, 
My blessing is around thee shed : 
'Tis I; be not afraid. 

When, on the other side, thy feet 
Shall rest 'mid thousand welcomes sweet, 
One well-known voice thy heart shall greet: 
'Tis I; be not afraid. 

From out the dazzling majesty 
Gently he'll lay his hands on thee, 
"Whispering, " Beloved, lov'st thou me ? 
'Twas not in vain I died for thee ! 
'Tis I; be not afraid." 

* Matt. xiv. 37. 



7 6 Glimpses of 



CHAPTER VII. 

" My knowledge of that life is small, 
The eye of faith is dim, 
But 'tis enough that Christ knows all 
And I shall be with him." 

Baxter. 

As the mornings grew pleasant Alice 
wished me to go often and sit with our 
dear old friend, so that the devoted 
daughter might breakfast and go out 
into the air a while. The presence of 
strangers distressed the sufferer, and 
only old friends by whose sick-beds 
she herself had watched were allowed 
to take her daughter's place. 

Coming back one morning, thankful 
for the painless quiet of our sick-room, 
I found Alice dressed and full of joy. 

" Cousin Frank will be here to-mor- 



The Celestial Country. 77 



row," she exclaimed. " He landed last 
week, but had to stop in New York 
under a doctor's care, and has not even 
been able to write before. They had a 
stormy passage, and he was bruised 
and sick. He says there was no sun- 
light for days and that the waves were 
dashing over the vessel or tossing it 
like a ball. He had to comfort himself 
with the old saying : ' Heaven is as 
near by water as by land ;' but home 
will more than repay for all he suffered." 
Then, in a lower tone, " I could not 
help thinking, auntie dear, that perhaps 
/may some time say that, even though 
my way should be dark and stormy. 
At any rate, I will not borrow trouble, 
but will remember Amy's text when 
she was left in the dark : ' What time I 
am afraid I will trust in thee.' The 
dear little thing told me that her moth- 
er often had to leave her when she went 



78 Glimpses of 



to get sewing and Amy had no shoes, 
and she always repeated that text before 
she left her. Now for a new text" 

" Our last reading was of the cruci- 
fixion of our Saviour. After he rose 
from the grave he vanished out of sight 
at will and entered closed doors, yet 
said to Thomas, ' Handle me and see, 
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as 
ye see me have.' He ate before them, 
and was seen of them forty days— at 
one time, of five hundred at once ; so 
no optical illusion was possible. Fi- 
nally, he rose into the air like a bird, 
and as they gazed earnestly on him 
soared out of their sight. 

" Just before Stephen was stoned ' he 
looked up steadfastly into heaven, and 
saw the glory of God, and Jesus stand- 
ing on the right hand of God '—not so 
glorified that Stephen could not recog- 
nize him. 



The Celestial Country. 79 

"Romans viii. 17, 18: ' If children, 
then heirs : heirs of God, and joint-heirs 
with Christ, if so be that we suffer with 
him, that we may be also glorified to- 
gether. For I reckon, that the suffer- 
ings of this present time are not worthy 
to be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed in us.' The same idea 
in 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18: 'Our light afflic- 
tion, which is but for a moment, work- 
eth for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory; while we look 
... at the things which are not seen.' 

" ' Affliction, light ; glory, an exceeding weight. 
Affliction, for a moment ; glory, eternal.' 

You see, also, it is not glory revealed to 
us, but glory revealed in us. Then we 
shall be worthy love. Whittier prays : 

" ' Clothe with life the weak intent : 
Let me be the thing I meant.' 



So Glimpses of 

"Romans viii. 32, 38, 39: 'He that 
spared not his own Son, but delivered 
him up for us all; how shall he not, 
with him, also freely give us all things ? 
. . . For I am persuaded, that neither 
death, nor life, nor angels, nor princi- 
palities, nor powers, nor things present, 
nor things to come, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature, shall be 
able to separate us from the love of 
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' 

" Barnes says, ' Those who trust 
Christ have every possible security — 
God's purposes to save them, Christ's 
finished work, the Holy Spirit's aid, 
and all events working together for 
their good.' 

"Romans xiv. 8, 9: 'Whether we 
live or die, we are the Lord's. For to 
this end Christ both died and revived, 
that he might be Lord both of the dead 
and living-.' 



The Celestial Country. 



" * Christ, our Redeemer, lives, 
And often from the skies 
Looks down, and watches all our dust 
Till he shall bid it rise.' 

" First Corinthians iii. 22, 23 : 'All 
things are yours, whether . . . life or 
death, or things present or things to 
come, all are yours ; and ye are Christ's 
and Christ is God's.' Even death is 
your servant : he will loose the bond to 
this suffering body, that you may enter 
upon your inheritance. 

" First Corinthians xiii. 12 : ' For now 
we see in a mirror darkly, but then face 
to face. Now I know in part, but then 
shall I know even as also I am known.' 

" First Corinthians xv. 22, 35-38, 42- 
44, 54-57: 'As in Adam all die, even so in 
Christ shall all be made alive. But some 
one will say, How are the dead raised 
up? And with what manner of body do 
they come ? Thou foolish one, that which 
(5 



82 Glimpses of 



thou thyself sowest, is not quickened 
except it die ; and thou sowest not the 
body that shall be, but a bare grain, it 
may chance of wheat, or of some other 
grain ; but God giveth it a body even as 
it pleased him, and to each seed a body 
of its own. So also is the resurrection of 
the dead. It is sown in corruption ; it 
is raised in incorruption : it is sown in 
dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is 
sown in weakness ; it is raised in pow- 
er : it is sown a natural body ; it is 
raised a spiritual body. So when this 
corruptible shall have put on incorrup- 
tion, and this mortal shall have put on 
immortality, then shall be brought to 
pass the saying that is written, Death is 
swallowed up in victory. O death, where 
is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy vic- 
tory ? The sting of death is sin ; . . . but 
thanks be to God, which giveth us the vic- 
tory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.' " 



The Celestial Country. 83 

" Yes, auntie, I see it now. How 
' many object-lessons God gives us every 
spring! This very bed of hyacinths 
and crocuses is one. Last fall, when 
the gardener put the dead-looking little 
bulbs under ground, I thought the frost 
would destroy them ; it seemed really 
cruel to set them out when winter was 
coming. The tiny brown seeds in the 
hot-bed, too. And it must mean that 
the glorified body is to be as superior 
in enjoyment and beauty as the blos- 
soming plant is to the little seed. You 
told me once that the caterpillar is one 
of God's object-lessons on the resur- 
rection. Of course we see in a mirror 
darkly. Had any one said to the cater- 
pillar, ' You shall be beautiful ; you 
shall soar gracefully instead of crawl- 
ing; you will care no longer for cab- 
bage-leaves and worms, but will feed 
on roses and fly in the sunshine,' it 



84 Glimpses of 

could not possibly have understood. 
This is why we need faith." 

"Yes, dear; and the apostle adds, 
' Be steadfast.' The Greek means ■ a 
seat/ as if one should say, ' Sit down ; 
rest upon these glorious resurrection 
truths.' Again, he calls it ' that bless- 
ed hope and the glorious appearing of 
our Lord Jesus Christ.' 

"This chapter teaches still another 
lesson. Paul says often, ' Grow in grace.' 
Here is a strong motive: 'As one star 
differeth from another star in glory, so 
is the resurrection of the dead.' 

" Daniel xii. 3 : ' They that be wise 
shall shine as the brightness of the fir- 
mament, and they that turn many to 
righteousness, as the stars for ever and 
ever.' " 

" Like dear grandma," said Alice. 

" We shall not be an indiscriminate 
throng about the throne. While on 



The Celestial Country. 85 

earth Christ selected the twelve, and 
of them John and Peter were oftenest 
chosen to be with him. i Now Jesus 
loved Martha, and her sister, and Laz- 
arus.' Of the young ruler, amiable and 
upright, it is said, 'Jesus beholding him 
loved him.' 

" ' Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, 
I have called thee by thy name.' 1 

"Revelation ii. 17: 'To him that 
overcometh will I give to eat of the 
hidden manna, and will give him a 
white stone, and in that stone a new 
name written, which no man knoweth, 
saving he that receiveth it.' So Jesus 
loves you with a personal love — not 
merely as one of the myriads of sin- 
ners redeemed by his blood, but as 
Alice Taylor. 

" Second Corinthians v. I : ' For we 
know that if our earthly house of this 



86 Glimpses of 

tabernacle were dissolved, we have a 
building of God, a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens ' — 
probably the spiritual body we shall 
put on. The figure of the tabernacle 
seems to me intended to teach that 
as the tabernacle was taken apart and 
removed on its journeys, yet put to- 
gether again at the place of rest, so the 
body is laid down, to be rebuilt; that 
as the ark of the covenant, where God 
revealed his glory, was taken from the 
tabernacle on its journeys and after- 
ward replaced, so the soul leaves the 
body to inhabit it again. 'A building 
of God ' — our spiritual body until the 
resurrection of our own body. You 
recollect that Elijah and Moses appear- 
ed in their spiritual bodies at the Trans- 
figuration. 

" Second Corinthians v. 4 : ' We that 
are in this tabernacle do groan being 






The Celestial Country. %j 

burdened, that what is mortal may be 
swallowed up of life.' See, this is the 
Bible definition of death : ' What is 
mortal swallowed up of life.' ' Know- 
ing that whilst we are at home in the 
body we are absent from the Lord ; we 
are of good courage; and are willing 
rather to be absent from the body, and 
to be at home with the Lord.' How 
clearly this teaches that the soul passes 
at once from the body to the presence 
of the Lord! 

" Second Corinthians xii. gives Paul's 
credentials to speak confidently of heav- 
en. Fourteen years before, he had been 
caught up into paradise, to the third 
heaven, the especial dwelling-place of 
God. What he saw and heard he was 
not allowed fully to reveal, but he gives 
us glimpses of the glory which he calls 
* unspeakable,' past human power to de- 
scribe or understand. Whittier says, 



Glimpses of 



' May it not be that Infinite Wisdom 
sees that a clearer and fuller revelation 
of the future life would render us less 
willing or able to perform our duties in 
the present condition ? Enchanted by 
a clear view of the heavenly hills, and 
of our loved ones beckoning to us from 
the pearl-gates of the city of God, could 
we patiently work out our life-task here 
or make the necessary exertions to pro- 
vide for these bodies, whose encum- 
brance alone can prevent us from ris- 
ing to a higher plane of existence?'" 

From pain and care, 
O Lord, I seek not to be free • 

But this my prayer: 
" Open my eyes to see 
That thou art leading me." 

Then I can bear 
To walk in darkness still, 
Walking with thee, submissive to thy will. 

Clouds come and go, 
But, Lord, clouds only make more bright 



The Celestial Country. 89 

The after-glow. 
After the darkest night 
Will come the morning light, 

And well I know 
The morn itself may hide 
Its face, but light shall be at eventide. 

Home is more near, 
O Lord, by every passing day; 

Home is more dear 
By every prayer I pray — 
By every footstep of the way 

That brings me there. 
Where thou art let me be, 
For where thou art is home and heaven to me. 

"A little while!" 
Dear Lord, the precious words are thine ; 

A little while ! 
The blessed hope is mine 
Till on these eyes shall shine 

Thy radiant smile, 
And thine own hand of grace 
Shall wipe all tears from my uplifted face. 
Henry Cobb. 



90 Glimpses of 



CHAPTER VIII. 

" All things else have but their day : 
God's love only lasts for aye." 

Cousin Frank is here. The meeting 
was joyful yet sad—joyful to Alice, who 
had feared not to see him ; sad to the 
young man, who had not realized the 
change in his friend. We have not read 
for days ; all her brightness and all her 
strength are given to cheer him, for now 
she is spiritually stronger than he. This 
afternoon he was called away, and as 
we sat alone in the twilight she said, 

"Frank has given up all his ambi- 
tious plans ; he will enter Union Theo- 
logical Seminary next fall." 

I expressed my joy at his decision. 



The Celestial Country. 91 

" Yes," she said, softly ; " he told me 
that, since our Father is to have me, he 
shall have his whole life — that he will 
feel nearer me if he works for God 
alone. I am so glad, so thankful ! and 
I want him to preach often about heav- 
en. I want it to seem real and near 
and lovely to him as it does to me, so 
that wherever he goes he may lead peo- 
ple to live for it, and not for the things 
that fade away and fail us or disappoint 
us when we gain them. Let him read 
with us mornings." 

So our next reading was in the pleas- 
ant library, looking out into the garden. 
Alice lay on a lounge in the bay-win- 
dow; Frank sat near with his Bible, 
and a pencil to mark each verse, always 
henceforth to be doubly dear to him. 

Our first texts were of God's love. 

" Ephesians ii. 7 : ' That in the ages 
to come, he might show the exceeding 



Glimpses of 



riches of his grace, in his kindness 
toward us in Christ Jesus.' 

" Ephesians v. 25-27 : ' Christ loved 
the church and gave himself for it, that 
he might sanctify it. That he might pre- 
sent it to himself, a glorious church; 
not having spot or wrinkle or any such 
thing, but that it should be holy and 
without blemish ' — the holiness we now 
long for. 

" Philippians i. 2 1-24 : ' For me to live 
is Christ, and to die is gain. . . . What I 
shall choose I wot not. For I am in a 
strait betwixt two, having a desire to 
depart and to be with Christ ; which is 
far better : nevertheless to abide in the 
flesh is more needful for you.' The 
original means 'better beyond all ex- 
pression.' In the vigor of life, full of 
energy, successful in the grand work 
he loved — winning souls to Christ — he 
longed to depart to be with him. Rec- 



The Celestial Country. 93 

ollect, he had been tliere and knew that 
the souls of departed Christians were 
in heaven — that he would not lie in 
the grave like clay, but go at once to 
Christ. 

" Philippians iii. 8-1 1 : 'I count all 
things but loss for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord . . . 
that I may win Christ, and be found in 
him, not having mine own righteousness 
. . . but the righteousness which is of 
God by faith ; that I may know him, 
and the power of his resurrection, and 
the fellowship of his sufferings, ... if 
by any means I might attain unto the 
resurrection of the dead.' 

" Philippians iii. 20, 21 : 'For our con- 
versation is in heaven; from whence also 
we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus 
Christ ; who shall change our vile body, 
that it may be fashioned like unto his 
glorious body.' 



94 Glimpses of 

" Colossians iii. 4 : ' When Christ, who 
is our life, shall appear, then shall ye 
also appear with him in glory.' 

"First Thessalonians iv. 13-17: 'I 
would not have you to be ignorant, 
brethren, concerning them which are 
asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others 
which have no hope. For if we believe 
that Jesus died and rose again, even so 
them also which sleep in Jesus, will God 
bring with him. For this we say unto 
you by the word of the Lord, that we 
which are alive and remain unto the com- 
ing of the Lord, shall not precede them 
which are asleep. For the Lord him- 
self shall descend from heaven, . . . with 
the trump of God, and the dead in 
Christ shall rise first; then we which 
are alive and remain shall be caught 
up together with them in the clouds, to 
meet the Lord in the air; and so shall 

We EVER BE WITH THE LORD.' 



The Celestial Cotmtry. 95 

" Zechariah xiv. 5 : ' The Lord my 
God shall come, and all the saints with 
thee.' 

" Jude 14 : 'And Enoch also, the 
seventh from Adam, prophesied of 
these, saying, Behold, the Lord com- 
eth with ten thousand of his saints, to 
execute judgment upon all and to con- 
vince all that are ungodly among them 
of all their ungodly deeds ; and of all 
their hard speeches which ungodly 
sinners have spoken against him.' 

" Matthew xvi. 27 : ' For the Son of 
man shall come in the glory of his Fa- 
ther with his angels ; and then he shall 
reward every man according to his 
works.' 

" Revelation xx. 1 1 and Matthew 
xxv. 31-46 give a full account of this 
glorious scene. Imagination never could 
have conceived so sublime a spectacle 
— the Lord descending with his saints, 



g6 Glimpses of 

from Abel, down to the end of time, a 
countless multitude, attended by hosts 
of angels ; the bodies of the saints raised 
and reunited to their spirits, those still 
alive fitted by some sudden change for 
the spiritual life, then all caught up to 
Jesus in the air. The throne of judg- 
ment shall be set upon the clouds, since 
our earth could not contain such an 
assembly. 

" < All that tread 
The globe are but a handful to the tribes 
That slumber in its bosom.' 

God's people shall be gathered on his 
right hand, while the wicked on his 
left are judged. Not those who have 
trusted Christ; the Bible is plain here : 
1 Thou hast cast all our sins behind thy 
back;' ' Thou hast cast our sins into the 
depths of the sea ;' ' He that heareth 
my word and believeth on him that 
sent me, hath everlasting life ; and shall 



The Celestial Country. 97 

not come into condemnation, but is 
passed from death unto life.' 

" Charlotte Elizabeth tells how a 
deaf-mute described it by signs : ' Jack's 
bads written on a slate ; Christ holds 
his bleeding hand over it; the blood 
trickles down and washes them out. 
God looks. Jack's bads ? No !' 

' ' There is therefore now no con- 
demnation to them that are in Christ 
Jesus.' 

" Never has the universe witnessed 
so grand an assembly, and to us who 
trust him it will be only an assurance 
that our Lord hath taken to himself his 
great power and hath reigned. 

"Again we ascend to our home, tak- 
ing with us the stranger-saints for their 
first sight of glory. 'And so shall we 
ever be with the Lord.' 

" No wonder the apostle adds, ' Com- 
fort one another with these words.' " 

7 



Glimpses of 



JESUS MY LORD. 
Jesus, thy name I love 
All other names above — 

Jesus my Lord. 

Oh, thou art all to me ; 

Nothing to please I see, 

Nothing apart from thee, 

Jesus my Lord. 

When unto thee I flee, 
Thou wilt my refuge be, 

Jesus my Lord. 
What need I now to fear, 
What earthly pain or care, 
Since thou art ever near, 

Jesus my Lord ? 

Soon thou wilt come again. 
I shall be happy then, 

Jesus my Lord. 
Then thine own face I'll see; 
Then I shall like thee be ; 
Then evermore with thee, 

Jesus my Lord. 

"THAT DAY." 
The earth and heavens were rolled up like a scroll* 
Time and space, change and death, had passed 
away ; 



The Celestial C 07 entry. 99 

Weight, number, measure, each had reached its 
whole : 
The day had come — that day. 

Multitudes — multitudes — stood up in bliss, 
Made equal to the angels, glorious, fair, 
With harps, palms, wedding-garments, kiss of 
peace, 
And crowned and hallowed hair. 

They sang a song — a new song — in the height, 
Harping with harps to Him who is strong and 
true; 
They drank new wine; their eyes saw with new 
light : 
Lo ! all things were made new. 

As though one pulse stirred all, one rush of blood 
Fed all, one breath swept through them myriad- 
voiced, 
They struck their harps, cast down their crowns ; 
they stood 
And worshiped and rejoiced. 

Each face looked one way like a moon new-lit, 
Each face looked one way toward its Sun of 
love; 
Drank love, and bathed in love, and mirrored it, 
And knew no end thereof. 



100 Glimpses of 

Glory touched glory on each blessed head, 

Hands locked dear hands, never to sunder more; 
Those were the new-begotten from the dead 
Whom the great birthday bore. 

Heart answered heart, soul answered soul at rest, 

Double against each other, filled, sufficed ; 
All loving, loved of all, but loving best 
And best beloved of Christ. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 



The Celestial Country. 



CHAPTER IX. 

" Green pastures are before me 

Which yet I have not seen ; 
Bright skies will soon be o'er me 

Where darkest clouds have been. 
My hope I cannot measure ; 

My path to life is free ; 
My Saviour has my treasure, 

And he will walk with me." 

Again in the pleasant library we wait- 
ed with our books for Frank, who had 
gone to carry some flowers to the dear 
old lady who had been grandma to him 
also. 

When he came in, glowing from the 
fresh morning air, Alice sighed, then 
smiled. 

" Report yourself, truant," she said. 
" Have you sufficient excuse for your 
tardiness ?" 



102 Glimpses of 

" I was trying to catch the secret of 
grandma's spirit," he replied. " Let me 
tell you what Miss Maria told me. Yes- 
terday she lay quiet for a while, enjoy- 
ing a rare freedom from pain. Sudden- 
ly she called out, ' Oh, Ridy, isn't God 
good ? I haven't an ache or a pain any- 
where.' How dearly she loves our Sa- 
viour, and how near and real heaven 
seems to her! I would be willing to 
lie there and moan in agony as she does 
if I could have as noble a record behind 
me, and as full an assurance of the life 
beyond. I would gladly spend my life 
trying to become like her if I were sure 
of success." 

" Be satisfied, then, that you may at- 
tain what you seek : ' Blessed are they 
which do hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness : for they shall be filled.' Here 
are more promises of holiness of heart. 

" Second Thessalonians i. 10: 'When 



The Celestial Country. 103 

he shall come to be glorified in his 
saints and to be admired in all them 
that believe ' — glorified and admired, 
not merely by us, but in us ; for we 
shall be like him, to the praise of the 
glory of his grace. We shall be his 
jewels. 

" First John iii. 2: ' Beloved, now are 
we the sons of God, and it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be : but we know 
that, when he shall appear, we shall be 
like him ; for we shall see him as he is.' 
We shall then realize David's longing : 
1 1 shall be satisfied when I awake with 
thy likeness.' The Rev. Dr. Ball says, 
' I shall have an angel's spirit and an 
angel's purity, as well as an angel's 
drapery and an angel's home. Thank 
God for the assurance of a holy heart ! 
for without it there could be no cer- 
tainty of happiness, even in heaven.' 

Second Timothy i. 10: 'Our Saviour 



I0 4 Glimpses of 



Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, 
and hath brought life and immortality 
to light through the gospel.' We saw 
that the Israelites, and even Abraham, 
the friend of God, lived in the twilight 
of prophecy. Christ was known to 
them only through types and shad- 
ows, and then merely as a sacrifice 
for sin. Of Christ as the Son of 
man they knew nothing. To them 
death was the entrance, not to heaven, 
but to a land of shadows where the soul 
wandered until sent to its final home. 
The Jews called it ' Sheol ;' the Greeks, 
'Hades.' To both it was, as Job ex- 
pressed it, 'the land of darkness, and 
the shadow of death; a land of dark- 
ness, as darkness itself; and of the 
shadow of death, without any order, 
and where the light is as darkness.' * 

* Job X. 21, 22. 



The Celestial Country. 105 

How different from the heaven Christ 
revealed to us ! The wisest philos- 
ophers of Greece and of Rome felt that 
they were immortal, but they had no 
knowledge of the future life. Cicero 
says, ' It is conjecture, and what is true 
some god must tell us.' Socrates, just 
before he drank the hemlock, his death- 
sentence, said, ' I hope to go hence to 
good men, but of that I am not very 
confident. I must now die, and you 
shall live ; but which of us is in the 
better state, the living or the dead, God 
only knows.' 

"Second Timothy ii. 10: 'I endure 
all things for the elect's sake, that they 
may also obtain the salvation which is 
in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.' 
Now the apostle Paul is testing the 
hope he has taught. Imprisoned in a 
damp dungeon at Rome, soon to be be- 
headed by the cruel Nero, he writes, ' I 



io6 Glimpses of 



am now ready to be offered, and the 
time of my departure is at hand. I 
have fought a good fight, I have fin- 
ished my course, I have kept the faith ; 
henceforth there is laid up for me a 
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
the righteous Judge, shall give me at 
that day ; and not to me only, but unto 
all them also that love his appearing.' * 
It used to seem to me that only an em- 
inently good man like the apostle could 
rejoice so confidently. But you have 
fought a good fight, my darling, against 
love of life and fear of death ; have made 
your own will submit to the Master's ; 
have been patient when every quiver- 
ing nerve protested against patience. 
When Christ comes for you, it will be 
because you have finished your course ; 
and if you still trust him, you will have 



* 2 Tim. iv. 6-8. 



The Celestial Country. 107 

kept the faith as certainly as did Paul ; 
so as surely for you as for him is laid 
up a crown of righteousness." 

" But Frank's crown will have many 
stars ; mine, none. For years he will 
go on winning souls to Christ, and I 
have done nothing;" and Alice's eyes 
were full of tears. 

Frank answered quickly : 

"And in the Paradise of God you will 
blossom and grow so far above me ! 
Will you be willing to welcome me, all 
battered and scarred with marks of de- 
feat? The world, the flesh and the 
devil are no weak enemies. You know 
how we have often sung : 

" ' Ne'er think the victory won, 
Nor lay thine armor down : 
Thine arduous task will not be done 
Till thou obtain thy crown.' " 

" We will honor every scar," Alice 



io8 Glimpses of 

said, gravely, " and envy you them— we 
who were sent to bed with our work 
unfinished." 

" God makes no mistakes," I added. 
Frank had been turning over the 
pages of his Bible. 

" Here are some verses for you, 
Alice," he said. 

" Revelation xxii. 3, 4: ' The throne 
of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, 
and his servants shall serve him; and 
they shall see his face, and his name 
shall be in their foreheads.' 

"Again, Revelation xiv. 4: 'These 
are they which follow the Lamb whith- 
ersoever he goeth.' 

" The Scriptures say that Christ 'went 
about doing good.' It must be a grand 
thing to follow him as his helpers in the 
work set by him and done under his 
eye— done so perfectly, too, when we 
have become like him ! No doubt then 



The Celestial Country. 109 

about whether this is the right work or 
whether we are doing it right ; no fail- 
ures or frets to mourn over; no ques- 
tion of his approval." 

" Those who are worthy are called to 
work near him ; we are kept outside 
for training, but only for a little while. 

"Titus ii. 11-13: 'For the grace of 
God that bringeth salvation hath ap- 
peared to all men, teaching us that, de- 
nying ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
we should live soberly, righteously and 
godly in this present world; looking 
for that blessed hope, and the glorious 
appearing of the great God and our Sa- 
viour Jesus Christ ' — that is, it is our duty 
to cherish this hope, that by it we may 
overcome sin, and self, and the world. 

"A part of your armor, Frank : 'And 
for a helmet the hope of salvation.' 

" ' By faith Abraham, when he was 
called to go out into a place which he 



Glimpses of 



should after receive for an inheritance, 
obeyed ; and he went out, not knowing 
whither he went. By faith he sojourn- 
ed in the land of promise as in a strange 
country, dwelling in tabernacles with 
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of 
the same promise; for he looked for 
a city which hath foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God.' * It re- 
quired more faith for Abraham to take 
the long journey on foot, among hostile 
tribes, through an unknown way, to an 
unknown land, than for us to die. After 
leaving home and friends, after the long 
march, he was a stranger in the new 
land, dwelling in tents and moving 
from place to place, homeless, his only 
possession in it a purchased burying- 
place. We make no toilsome journey. 
Safe in the arms of Jesus, we rest, weak, 

* Heb. xi. 8-10. 



The Celestial Country. 



yet needing only to wait until the Mas- 
ter himself lifts us up to his glorious 
home — the home where our treasures 
have been gathering for years, where 
Christ has prepared a place for us, 
where we shall be warmly welcomed 
by dear friends, shall add to their joy, 
and shall be at home for ever. 

" Thinking, probably, of the loneliness 
of that life among strangers, the apostle 
adds, 'They might have had opportu- 
nity to have returned. But now they 
desire a better country, that is an heav- 
enly ; wherefore God is not ashamed to 
be called their God ; for he hath pre- 
pared for them a city.' Is not this bet- 
ter country the desire of our hearts ? 

"James i. 12 : 'Blessed is the man 
that endureth temptation; for when he 
is tried he shall receive the crown of 
life, which the Lord hath promised to 
them that love him.' Whatever trial 



112 Glimpses of 

God sends — sickness, pain, sleepless- 
ness — if borne patiently because Christ 
wills it, will win the crown of life. 

" First Peter i. 3-5 : ' Blessed be the 
God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who, according to his great 
mercy, begat us again unto a living 
hope, by the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ from the dead, unto an in- 
heritance incorruptible, and undefiled, 
and that fadeth not away, reserved in 
heaven for you ; who by the power of 
God are kept through faith, unto a sal- 
vation ready to be revealed in the last 
time.' Christ will send us no trial that 
is not needed to purify us : 'In all their 
afflictions he was afflicted ;' ' He bare 
our griefs and carried our sorrows ;' 
' Jesus wept ' at the grave of Lazarus. 
In every needed trial he will keep us 
by his mighty power, so that no pain or 
trouble shall make us fall away from him. 



The Celestial Country. 113 

" You have seen the print where a 
woman clings desperately to a cross 
planted in the cleft of an ocean- rock 
and is buffeted by waves that would 
overwhelm her should her frail hold 
fail : it is a sad misrepresentation. We 
stand upon the Rock of Ages : ' under- 
neath us are the Everlasting Arms;' ' he 
shall gather the lambs with his arm, 
and carry them in his bosom.' We are 
' kept by the power of God.' David 
prays, ' Hold thou me up, and I shall 
be safe ;' ' Trust ye in the Lord for 
ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is ever- 
lasting strength.' ' Come unto me, and 
I will give you rest,' says Jesus. ' In 
me ye may have peace.' Trust, rest, 
peace ! 

" Second Peter i. 1 1 : ' For so an en- 
trance shall be ministered unto you abun- 
dantly into the everlasting kingdom of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' 



14 Glimpses of 



The New Version reads : ' Thus shall 
be richly supplied to you the entrance.' 
Not an entrance merely : to cultivate 
the graces of faith, patience and love 
is to ensure a joyous welcome at the 
gate of heaven. 

"Second Peter iii. 13: 'We, accord- 
ing to his promise, look for new heav- 
ens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
righteousness.' 

"Isaiah lxv. 17: 'Behold I create 
new heavens and a new earth.' 

" Revelation xxi. 1 : 'And I saw a 
new heaven and a new earth ; for the 
first heaven and the first earth were 
passed away, and there was no more 
sea.' Our earth purified. Not the fu- 
ture home of all God's people, because 
this earth would be too small ; but it 
seems to me we would wish to revisit 
often the places where Christ suffered for 
us and where our own lives were spent. 



The Celestial Country. 115 

" First John ii. 17: 'He that doeth 
the will of God abideth for ever.' 

"First John ii. 25: 'This is the 
promise that he hath promised us, 
even eternal life.' 

" First John iii. 2 : ' Beloved, now are 
we the sons of God, and it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be ; but we know 
that when he shall appear we shall be 
like him, for we shall see him as he is.' 
The realization of David's prayer : ' I 
shall be satisfied when I awake with 
thy likeness.' 

"Hebrew xii. 22, 23: 'Ye are come 
unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of 
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
and to an innumerable company of 
angels, to the general assembly and 
church of the first-born, which are 
written in heaven, and to God the 
Judge of all, and to the spirits of just 
men made perfect' 



Ii6 Glimpses of 

"Jude 24, 25: 'Now unto him that 
is able to keep you from falling, and to 
present you faultless before the presence 
of his glory with exceeding joy, to the 
only wise God our Saviour, be glory and 
majesty, dominion and power, both now 
and ever. Amen.' " 

Again Frank read to us a favorite 
poem. 

PARADISE. 

Once, in a dream, I saw the flowers 

That bud and bloom in Paradise : 

More fair they are than waking eyes 

Have seen in all this world of ours, 

And faint the perfume- bearing rose, 

And faint the lily on its stem, 
And faint the perfect violet, 
Compared with them. 

I heard the songs of Paradise : 

Each bird sat singing in his place — 
A tender song so full of grace 

It soared like incense to the skies. 

Each bird sat singing to his mate 
A tender song among the trees ; 



The Celestial Country. 117 

The nightingale herself were cold 
To such as these. 

I saw the fourfold river flow, 

And deep it was, with golden sand : 
It flowed between a mossy land 

With murmured music grave and low. 

It hath refreshment for all thirst, 

For fainting spirits strength and rest: 

Earth holds not such a draught as this 
From east to west. 

The tree of life stood budding there, 
Abundant with its twelvefold fruits ; 
Eternal sap sustains its roots, 

Its shadowing branches fill the air. 

Its leaves are healing for the world, 
Its fruits the hungry world can feed, 

Sweeter than honey to the taste, 
And balm indeed. 

I saw the gate called Beautiful, 

And looked, but scarce could look within ; 

I saw the golden streets begin, 
And outskirts of the glassy pool. 
O harps ! O crowns of plenteous stars ! 

O green-palmed branches, many -leaved ! 
Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard, 
Nor heart conceived. 



Glimpses of 



I hope to see those things again, 

But not, as once, in dreams of night — 
To see them with my very sight, 
And touch and handle and attain ; 
To have all heaven beneath my feet 

For narrow way that once they trod; 
To have my part with all the saints, 
And with my God. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 



The Celestial Country. 119 



CHAPTER X. 

Again came a day so warm that 
Frank drew Alice up and down the 
garden-walks in her wheeled chair un- 
til she was tired. Then she reclined 
in it on the portico, and we took our 
books. 

" How lovely the flowers are !" she 
said. " They have reminded me all the 
while of that hymn of Peter Damiani, 
' perpetual bloom of roses.' Please, 
Frank, bring Jerusalem the Golden 
from the library-table, and read Mrs. 
Charles's translation of it while auntie 
finds her Bible verses." 

With a voice full of feeling Frank 
read : 



120 Glimpses of 

THE JOYS OF HEAVEN. 
Who can utter what the pleasures and the peace 

unbroken are 
Where arise the pearly mansions, shedding silvery 

light afar, 
Festive seats and golden roofs, which glitter like 

the evening star? 

Wholly of fair stones most precious are those radiant 

structures made ; 
With pure gold, like glass transparent, are those 

shining streets inlaid : 
Nothing that defiles can enter, nothing that can soil 

or fade. 

Stormy winter, burning summer, rage within those 

regions never, 
But perpetual bloom of roses and unfading spring 

for ever; 
Lilies gleam, the crocus glows, and dropping balms 

their scents deliver. 

Honey pure and greenest pastures — this the land 
of promise is; 

Liquid odors soft distilling, perfumes breathing on 
the breeze; 

Fruits immortal cluster always on the leafy fade- 
less trees. 



The Celestial Country. 121 

There no moonshine chill and changing, there no 

stars with twinkling ray, 
For the Lamb of that blessed city is at once the 

Sun and Day ; 
Night and time are known no longer, day shall 

never fade away. 

Ever filled and ever seeking, what they have they 
% still desire; 

Hunger there shall never fret them, nor satiety shall 

tire; 
Still enjoying whilst aspiring, in their joy they still 

aspire. 

Christ, the Palm of faithful victors, of that city 

make me free; 
When my warfare shall be ended, to its mansions 

lead thou me ; 
Grant me, with its happy inmates, sharer of thy 

gifts to be.* 

" Our reading in course has brought 
us to the Apocalypse : all the imagery 
of the hymn you have just read is 
drawn from it. It is the testimony of 

* Peter Damiani, eleventh century. 



Glimpses of 



John when banished to the island of 
Patmos, in the ^Egean Sea, for preach- 
ing the gospel. This is a small barren 
rock only twenty-eight miles in circum- 
ference, and here, away from friends 
and from comfort, shut out from the 
work he loved, Christ revealed himself • 
and some glimpses of our future glory 
to the aged disciple, who in his youth 
— more than sixty years before — had 
leaned upon his bosom. 

" First is the vision of Christ : ' One 
like unto the Son of man, clothed with 
a garment down to his feet, and girt 
about the breast with a golden girdle. 
His head and his hairs were white like 
snow, as white as wool, and his eyes 
were as a flame of fire ; and his feet like 
unto fine brass as if they burned in a 
furnace, and his voice as the sound of 
many waters ; and his countenance was 
as the sun shineth in his strength. And 



The Celestial Country. 123 

when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one 
dead. And he laid his right hand upon 
me, saying, Fear not, I am he that liv- 
eth and was dead, and behold I am 
alive for evermore, and have the keys 
of hell and of death.' * Language seems 
inadequate here. The long robe is sa- 
cerdotal, as Christ, our High Priest, Still 
intercedes for us; the white hairs — fit 
for the Ancient of days — are also a 
nimbus of glory; the eyes a flame of 
fire, omniscience; the feet like fine 
brass, stability. 

" Ezekiel uses the same figure: 'The 
glory of the God of Israel came from 
the way of the east ; and his voice was 
like a noise of many waters ; and the 
earth shined with his glory.' f 

" This mighty Saviour now gives us 
wonderful promises : ' To him that over- 

* Rev. i. 13-19. f Ezek. xiii. 2. 



124 Glimpses of 

cometh will I give to eat of the hid- 
den manna, and will give him a white 
stone, and in the stone a new name 
written, which no man knoweth sav- 
ing he that receiveth it.' * 

" ' To him that overcometh will I give 
to eat of the tree of life, which is in the 
midst of the paradise of God.' f 

" ' He that overcometh shall not be 
hurt of the second death.' J 

" ' He that overcometh, ... to him will 
I give power over the nations, . . . and 
I will give him the morning star.' § 

" ' He that overcometh, the same shall 
be clothed in white raiment; and I will 
not blot out his name out of the book 
of life, but I will confess his name be- 
fore my Father, and before his angels.' || 

" ' Him that overcometh will I make 

* Rev. ii. 17. f Rev. ii. 7. 

jRev. ii. n. \ Rev. ii. 26-28. 

|| Rev. iii. 5. 



The Celestial Country. 125 

a pillar in the temple of my God, and 
he shall go no more out: and I will 
write upon him the name of my God, 
and the name of the city of my God, 
which is New Jerusalem, which cometh 
down out of heaven from my God : and 
I will write upon him my new name.' * 

" ' Behold, I stand at the door, and 
knock : if any man hear my voice and 
open the door, I will come in to him, 
and will sup with him, and he with me.' 
We have only to open the door. ' To 
him that overcometh will I grant to sit 
with me in my throne, even as I also 
overcame, and am set down with my 
Father in his throne.'f 

" ' Be thou faithful unto death, and I 
will give thee a crown of life.' % 

" ' Behold, a throne was set in heaven, 
and one sat on the throne. And he 

* Rev. iii. 12. f Rev. iii. 20, 21. 

% Rev. ii. 10. 



126 Glimpses of 

that sat was to look upon like a jasper 
stone, and a sardius : and there was a 
rainbow round about the throne, like an 
emerald to look upon; and before the 
throne, as it were a glassy sea, like unto 
crystal. And I beheld, and lo, in the 
midst of the throne stood a Lamb, as 
it had been slain.' * 

" Now we get some idea of grand ora- 
torios — music such as earth never heard : 

" ' The four living creatures and the 
four and twenty elders fell down before 
the Lamb, having each one a harp, and 
golden bowls full of incense, which are 
the prayers of the saints. And they 
sing a new song, saying, Worthy art 
thou to take the book and to open the 
seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and 
didst purchase unto God with thy blood, 
men of every tribe and tongue and peo- 

* Rev. iv. 2-6. 



The Celestial Country. 127 

pie and nation, and madest them to be 
unto our God a kingdom and priests ; 
and they reign upon the earth. And I 
saw, and I heard a voice of many angels 
round about the throne and the living 
creatures and the elders ; and the num- 
ber of them was ten thousand times ten 
thousand, and thousands of thousands ; 
saying with a great voice, Worthy is the 
Lamb that hath been slain, to receive 
the power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
might, and honor, and glory, and bless- 
ing. And every created thing which 
is in the earth, and on the earth, and 
under the earth, and on the sea, and all 
things that are in them, heard I saying, 
Unto him that sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, 
and the honor, and the glory, and the 
dominion, for ever and ever.' * 

* Rev. v. 8-13. 



128 Glimpses of 

" 'After these things I saw, and be- 
hold; a great multitude, which no man 
could number, out of every nation, and 
of all tribes and peoples and tongues, 
standing before the throne and before 
the Lamb, arrayed in white robes and 
palms in their hands ; and they cry with 
a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our 
God which sitteth on the throne, and 
unto the Lamb. And all the angels 
were standing round about the throne, 
and about the elders, and the four living 
creatures, and they fell before the throne 
on their faces, and worshiped God, say- 
ing, Amen : Blessing, and glory, and 
wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, 
and power, and might, be unto our 
God, for ever and ever, Amen.' * 

" ' I heard as it were a great voice 
of a great multitude in heaven, say- 

* Rev. vii. 9-12. 



The Celestial Country. 129 

ing, Hallelujah ; Salvation, and glory, 
and power, belong to our God; for true 
and righteous are his judgments ; for he 
hath judged the great harlot, which did 
corrupt the earth with her fornication, 
and he hath avenged the blood of his 
servants at her hand. And a second 
time they say, Hallelujah. . . . And the 
four and twenty elders and the four living 
creatures, fell down and worshiped God, 
that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen; 
Hallelujah. . . . And I heard as it were 
the voice of a great multitude and as the 
voice of many waters, and as the voice 
of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah, 
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.'* 
" ' The kingdoms of this world are 
become the kingdoms of our Lord, and 
of his Christ ; and he shall reign for 
ever and ever. And the four and twenty 

* Rev. xix. 1-6. 



130 Glimpses of 

elders which sat before God on their 
seats, fell upon their faces and worship- 
ed God, saying, We give thee thanks, 
O Lord God Almighty, which art, and 
wast, and art to come; because thou 
hast taken to thee thy great power and 
hast reigned. And the nations were 
angry, and thy wrath is come, and the 
time of the dead, that they should be 
judged, and that thou shouldest give 
reward unto thy servants the prophets, 
and to thy saints, and them that fear thy 
name, small and great; and shouldest 
destroy them which destroy the earth.'* 
" 'And I heard a loud voice saying 
in heaven, Now is come salvation, and 
strength, and the kingdom of our God, 
and the power of his Christ; for the 
accuser of our brethren is cast down, 
which accused them before our God day 

*Rev. xi. 15-18. 



The Celestial Country. 131 

and night. And they overcame him 
by the blood of the Lamb, and by the 
word of their testimony ; and they 
loved not their lives unto the death. 
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye 
that dwell in them.' * 

" 'And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood 
on the Mount Sion, and with him an 
hundred forty and four thousand, hav- 
ing his Father's name written in their 
foreheads. And I heard a voice from 
heaven, as the voice of many waters, 
and as the voice of a great thunder: 
and I heard the voice of harpers harp- 
ing with their harps ; and they sung as 
it were a new song before the throne, 
and before the four living creatures, 
and the elders ; and no man could 
learn that song, but the hundred and 
forty and four thousand, which were 

* Rev. xii. 10-12. 



132 Glimpses of 

redeemed from the earth. . . . These are 
they which follow the Lamb whitherso- 
ever he goeth. These were redeemed 
from among men ; . . . they are without 
fault before the throne of God.' * 

" 'And I saw as it were a glassy sea 
mingled with fire ; and them that come 
victorious from the beast and from his 
image . . . standing by the glassy sea, 
having harps of God. And they sing 
the song of Moses the servant of God, 
and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great 
and marvelous are thy works, O Lord 
God, the Almighty; righteous and true 
are thy ways, thou King of the ages. 
Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify 
thy name ? for thou only art holy ; for 
all the nations shall come and worship 
before thee ; for thy righteous acts have 
been made manifest.' " f 

" * Rev. xiv. 1-5. f Rev. xv. 2-5. 



The Celestial Country. 133 

"As I stood by grandma's bed the 
other day," said Frank, "and heard her 
longing for death, I thought of Mrs. 
Browning's words : 

" ■ God, in cursing, gives us better gifts 
Than men in benediction.' 

Let me read you a passage from Wal- 
lace's Ben Hur: 

" 'A word as to the pleasure there is 
in the thought of a soul in each of us. 
In the first place, it robs death of its 
terrors by making dying a change for 
the better and burial but the planting 
of a seed from which there will spring 
a new life. In the next place, behold 
me as I am — weak, weary, old, shrunk- 
en in body and graceless ; look at my 
wrinkled face ; think of my failing 
senses ; listen to my shrilled voice. 
Ah ! what happiness to me in the 
promise that when the tomb opens, as 



134 Glimpses of 



soon it will, to receive the worn-out 

husk I call myself, the now viewless 
doors of the universe, which is but the 
palace of God, will swing wide ajar to 
receive me, a liberated, immortal soul ! 

" ' I would I could tell you the ecsta- 
sy there must be in that life to come ! 
Do not say I know nothing about it. 
This much I know, and it is enough for 
me — the being a soul implies conditions 
of divine superiority. In such a being 
there is no dust nor any gross thing ; 
it must be finer than air, more impal- 
pable than light, purer than essence : it 
is life in absolute purity. 

" ' What now, O son of Hur ? Know- 
ing so much, shall I dispute with my- 
self or you about the unnecessaries — 
about the form of my soul ? Or where 
it is to abide ? Or whether it eats and 
drinks ? Or is winged, or wears this 
or that? 



The Celestial Country. 135 

" ' No ; it is more becoming to trust 
in God. The beautiful in this world is 
all from his hand, declaring the perfec- 
tion of taste ; he is the author of all 
form ; he clothes the lily, he colors the 
rose, he distills the dewdrop, he makes 
the music of Nature ; in a word, he or- 
ganized us for this life and imposed its 
conditions, and they are such guaranty 
to me that, trustful as a little child, I 
leave to him the organization of my 
soul and every arrangement for the life 
after death. I know he loves me.' " 



136 Glimpses of 



CHAPTER XI. 

" The home of fadeless splendor, 
Of flowers that fear no thorn, 
Where they shall dwell as children 
Who here as exiles mourn." 

Bernard. 

It was a sad company that gathered 
on the portico for our reading, though 
the sun shone, the flowers bloomed and 
" the little birds sang east, and the little 
birds sang west." Frank had just re- 
ceived word that his mother was very 
ill, and he could not rest till he reached 
her side. The first train must carry 
him from us. " The only son of his 
mother and she a widow," he must re- 
main with her through her illness ; and 
Alice could not hope to stay until his 
return. 



The Celestial Country. 137 

The few intervening hours were pre- 
cious, and with one accord we turned 
to the sacred word for comfort. Both 
our homes darkened, our hearts full of 
anxiety and pain, it was sweet to read 
of a home where they go no more out 
for ever, where there is no death, nei- 
ther sorrow nor crying ; where there is 
no more pain. 

" 'And one of the elders answered, 
saying unto me, What are these which 
are arrayed in white robes ? and whence 
came they ? And I said unto him, 
Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, 
These are they which came out of great 
tribulation, and have washed their robes, 
and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb. Therefore are they before 
the throne of God, and serve him day 
and night in his temple ; and he that 
sitteth on the throne shall dwell among 
them. They shall hunger no more, 



138 Glimpses of 

neither thirst any more, neither shall 
the sun light on them nor any heat. 
For the Lamb which is in the midst of 
the throne shall feed them, and shall 
lead them unto living fountains of wa- 
ters ; and God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes.' * 

" 'And I heard a voice from heaven 
saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the 
dead which die in the Lord from hence- 
forth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they 
may rest from their labors; and their 
works do follow them.' f 

"'Let us be glad and rejoice, and 
give honor to him : for the marriage of 
the Lamb is come, and his wife hath 
made herself ready. And to her was 
granted that she should be arrayed in 
fine linen, clean and white ; for the fine 
linen is the righteousness of saints. 

*Rev. vii. 13-17. f Rev. xiv. 13. 



The Celestial Country. 139 

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed 
are they which are called unto the mar- 
riage supper of the Lamb. And he 
saith unto me, These are the true say- 
ings of God.' * 

" 'And I saw a new heaven and a new 
earth ; for the first heaven and the first 
earth were passed away ; and there was 
no more sea. And I John saw the holy 
city, New Jerusalem, coming down 
from God out of heaven, prepared as a 
bride adorned for her husband. And I 
heard a great voice out of heaven, say- 
ing, Behold, the tabernacle of God is 
with men, and he will dwell with them, 
and they shall be his people, and God 
himself shall be with them, and be their 
God. And God shall wipe away all 
tears from their eyes ; and there shall 
be no more death, neither sorrow nor 

* Rev. xix. 7-9. 



140 Glimpses of 

crying, neither shall there be any more 
pain ; for the former things are passed 
away. And he that sat upon the throne 
said, Behold I make all things new. 
And he said unto me, Write : for these 
words are true and faithful. And he 
said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha 
and Omega, the beginning and the end. 
I will give unto him that is athirst of 
the fountain of the water of life freely. 
He that overcometh shall inherit all 
things ; and I will be his God, and he 
shall be my son.' * 

" 'And he carried me away in the 
spirit to a great and high mountain, 
and showed me that great city, the 
Holy Jerusalem, descending out of 
heaven from God, having the glory of 
God ; and her light was like unto a 
stone most precious, even like a jasper 



The Celestial Country. 141 

stone, clear as crystal ; and had a wall 
great and high, and had twelve gates, 
and at the gates twelve angels, and 
names written thereon which are the 
names of the twelve tribes of the chil- 
dren of Israel : on the east three gates ; 
on the south three gates ; on the north 
three gates ; and on the west three gates. 
And the wall of the city had twelve 
foundations, and in them the names of 
the twelve apostles of the Lamb.' * 

" 'And the building of the wall of it 
was of jasper : and the city was pure gold, 
like unto clear glass. And the founda- 
tions of the wall of the city were gar- 
nished with all manner of precious 
stones. The first foundation was jas- 
per ; the second, sapphire; the third, 
a chalcedony ; the fourth, emerald ; the 
fifth, sardonyx : the sixth, sardius ; the 

* Rev. xxi. 10-14. 



142 Glimpses of 

seventh, chrysolite ; the eighth, beryl ; 
the ninth, topaz ; the tenth, chrysopra- 
sus ; the eleventh, jacinth ; the twelfth, 
amethyst. And the twelve gates were 
twelve pearls : every several gate was 
of one pearl : and the street of the 
city was pure gold, as it were trans- 
parent glass. And I saw no temple 
therein, for the Lord God Almighty 
and the Lamb are the temple of it. 
And the city had no need of the sun, 
neither of the moon to shine in it; for 
the glory of God did lighten it and the 
Lamb is the light thereof. And the 
nations of them which are saved shall 
walk in the light of it ; and the kings 
of the earth do bring their glory and 
honor into it. And the gates of it shall 
not be shut at all by day; for there 
shall be no night there. And they 
shall bring the glory and honor of the 
nations into it. And there shall in no 



The Celestial Country. 143 

wise enter into it anything that defileth, 
neither whatsoever worketh abomina- 
tion or maketh a lie, but they which 
are written in the Lamb's book of 
life.' * 

" 'And he showed me a pure river of 
water of life, clear as crystal, proceed- 
ing out of the throne of God and of the 
Lamb. In the midst of the street of it 
and on either side of the river, was there 
the tree of life, which bare twelve man- 
ner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every 
month : and the leaves of the tree were 
for the healing of the nations. And 
there shall be no more curse; but the 
throne of God and of the Lamb shall 
be in it ; and his servants shall serve 
him ; and they shall see his face ; and 
his name shall be in their foreheads. 
And there shall be no night there, and 

* Rev. xxi. 18-27. 



144 Glimpses of 

they need no candle, neither light of 
the sun ; for the Lord God giveth them 
light, and they shall reign for ever and 
ever. And he said unto me, These say- 
ings are faithful and true. . . . Blessed 
are they that do his commandments, 
that they may have right to the tree 
of life, and may enter in through the 
gates into the city. ... I, Jesus, have 
sent my angel to testify unto you these 
things in the churches. I am the root 
and the offspring of David, and the 
bright and morning star. And the Spirit 
and the bride say, Come. And let him 
that heareth say, Come. And let him 
that is athirst come. And whosoever 
will, let him take the water of life free- 
ly. .. . He which testifieth these things, 
saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.' " * 

* Rev. xxii. 



The Celestial Country. 145 

It did not seem so hard now to part : 
it would be but for a little while. Like a 
bugle-note seemed the apostle's words : 
" The time is short." Only a little while 
to labor for the world, to do or suffer 
the Master's will ! It would seem far 
too short when we come to bring our 
sheaves to the Saviour, who had given 
his life for us. So for his sake we 
bravely said, " Good-bye," which meant 
to each heart, " God be with you ; God 
comfort and guide and keep you till we 
meet again." 

"AH passes but God's will," said my 
darling, bravely; and in that will we 
rested. 

The parting was not our choice, nor 
had an enemy sent Frank away lonely 
and sorrowing. It was the loving Mas- 
ter who was training him for service 
and Alice for glory. 

Again and again we read the Script- 



146 Glimpses of 

ure words that were hallowed as our 
last reading together, and their beauty 
and sweetness, their glorious fullness of 
promise, embracing all that heart and 
soul could desire, grew upon us, until 
we seemed with Pilgrim in the Land of 
Beulah, where the soft fragrance of the 
Celestial Country blew over us and faint 
sounds of the far-off music made our 
hearts burn to enter. 

The tender and loving hymn of Ber- 
nard of Cluny seemed written for us, 
as for Christians more than seven hun- 
dred years ago. Parts of it* I read to 
Alice repeatedly to soothe the long, 
restless nights. 

'Midst power that knows no limit, 
And wisdom free from bound, 

The beatific Vision 

Shall glad the saints around — 

* Translated by J. M. Neale. 



The Celestial Country. 147 

The peace of all the faithful, 

The calm of all the blest, 
Inviolate, unvaried, 

Divinest, sweetest, best. 

Yes, peace, for war is needless ; 

Yes, calm, for storm is past; 
And goal from finished labor, 

And anchorage at last. 

That peace — But who may claim it? 

The guileless in their way, 
Who keep the ranks of battle, 

Who mean the thing they say ; 

The peace that is for heaven, 

And shall be for the earth ; 
The palace that re-echoes 

With festal song and mirth ; 

The garden breathing spices, 

The paradise on high ; 
Grace beautified to glory, 

Unceasing minstrelsy. 

There nothing can be feeble, 

There none can ever mourn, 
There nothing is divided, 

There nothing can be torn. 



148 Glimpses of 

'Tis fury, ill and scandal, 
'Tis peaceless peace, below : 

Peace, endless, strifeless, ageless, 
The halls of Zion know. 

Oh, happy, holy portion, 

Refection for the blest, 
True vision of true beauty, 

Sweet cure of all distress ! 

Strive, man, to win that glory ; 

Toil, man, to gain that light ; 
Send hope before to grasp it, 

Till hope be lost in sight — 

Till Jesus gives the portion 
Those blessed souls to fill, 

The insatiate, yet satisfied ; 
The full, yet craving still. 

That fullness and that craving 
Alike are free from pain 

Where thou 'midst heavenly citizens 
A home like theirs shalt gain. 

Here is the warlike trumpet ; 

There, life set free from sin, 
When to the last great supper 

The faithful shall come in. 



The Celestial Country. 149 



Jerusalem demands them ; 

They paid the price on earth, 
And now shall reap the harvest 

In blissfulness and mirth— 

The glorious, holy people 

Who evermore relied 
Upon their Chief and Father, 

The King, the Crucified ; 

The sacred ransomed number, 
Now bright with endless sheen, 

Who made the cross their watchword 
Of Jesus Nazarene ; 

Who (fed with heavenly nectar 
Where soul-like odors play) 

Draw out the endless leisure 
Of that long vernal day. 

And through the sacred lilies 
And flowers on every side 

The happy, dear-bought people 
Go wandering far and wide ; 

Their breasts are filled with gladness, 
Their mouths are tuned to praise, 

What time, now safe for ever, 
On former sins they gaze. 



150 Glimpses of 

The fouler was the error, 

The sadder was the fall, 
The ampler are the praises 

Of Him who pardoned all, 

Their one and only anthem 

The fullness of His love 
Who gives, instead of torment, 

Eternal joys above. 

Brief life is here our portion, 
Brief sorrow, short-lived care : 

The life that knows no ending — 
The tearless life — is there. 

Oh, happy retribution ! 

Short toil, eternal rest, 
For mortals and for sinners 

A mansion with the blest ! 

That we should look, poor wand'rers ! 

To have our home on high ! 
That worms should seek for dwelling, 

Beyond the starry sky ! 

To all one happy guerdon 

Of one celestial grace ; 
For all, for all, who mourn their fall, 

Is one eternal place. 



The Celestial Country. 151 

There grief is turned to pleasure — 

Such pleasure as below 
No human voice can utter, 

No human heart can know ; 

And after fleshly scandal, 

And after this world's night, 
And after storm and whirlwind, 

Is calm and joy and light. 



l 5 2 Glimpses of 



CHAPTER XII. 

Perhaps it was only the reaction after 
excitement, but Alice no longer wished 
to leave her room. Always patient and 
gentle, she was now very quiet, glad to 
be read or spoken to, yet seldom speak- 
ing. But about a week after Frank 
went she looked up brightly from a 
letter she had been reading: 

" Good news for us, dearie : Aunt 
Mary is better. Her sickness was as 
much from distress about business as 
from ill-health. Frank says that while 
he was away a dishonest agent had 
been plundering their little property. 
Had Frank not gone back suddenly, 
the man would have escaped. He had 



The Celestial Country. 153 

arranged to start for California the very 
next day. But Frank had him arrest- 
ed, and recovered both money and pa- 
pers. It is wonderful to me that Frank 
was called home just then. Now he 
can go to the seminary, and his mother 
will go East to be with him. Suppose 
the letter had been delayed a day or he 
had been out of town. Or suppose 
Aunt Mary had not been sick enough 
to need him. Doesn't it look as though 
God had accepted him for his service 
and would guide and keep him ? It 
reminds me of our little verse : 

" ' For He who cares for the lily 
And heeds the sparrow's fall 
Will tenderly lead his loving child; 
For he made and loveth all.' 

Now please read more of The Celestial 
Country, and I will try to rest. I am 
almost too thankful." 



154 Glimpses of 

For thee, O dear, dear country, 
Mine eyes their vigils keep ; 

For very love beholding 

Thy happy name, they weep. 

The mention of thy glory 
Is unction to the breast, 

And medicine in sickness, 
And love, and life, and rest. 

O one, O only, mansion, 

O Paradise of joy, 
Where tears are ever banished 

And smiles have no alloy, 

Beside thy living waters 

All plants are, great and small — 
The cedar of the forest, 

The hyssop of the wall ; 

With jasper glow thy bulwarks ; 

Thy streets with emeralds blaze ; 
The sardius and the topaz 

Unite in thee their rays ; 

Thine ageless walls are bonded 
With amethyst unpriced ; 

Thy saints build up its fabric, 
And the comer-stone is Christ. 



The Celestial Country. 155 



The cross is all thy splendor, 

The Crucified thy praise; 
His laud and benediction 

Thy ransomed people raise. 

Jesus, the gem of beauty, 

True God and Man, they sing ; 

The never-failing Garden, 
The ever-golden Ring ; 

The Door, the Pledge, the Husband, 
The Guardian of his court ; 

The Day-star of salvation, 
The Porter and the Port. 

Thou hast no shore, fair ocean, 
Thou hast no time, bright day ; 

Dear fountain of refreshment 
To pilgrims far away ! 

Upon the Rock of Ages 
They raise thy holy tower ; 

Thine is the victor's laurel, 
And thine the golden dower. 

Unfading lilies, bracelets 
Of living pearl, thine own ; 

The Lamb is ever near thee, 
The Bridegroom thine alone ; 



156 Glimpses of 



The Crown is he to guerdon ; 

The Buckler, to protect ; 
And he himself the Mansion, 

And he the Architect ; 

The only art thou needest, 
Thanksgiving for thy lot j 

The only joy thou seek est, 
The Life where Death is not ; 

And all thine endless leisure 
In sweetest accents sings 

The ill that was thy merit, 
The wealth that is thy King's. 

Jerusalem the Golden, 

With milk and honey blest, 

Beneath thy contemplation 

Sink heart and voice oppressed. 

I know not — oh, I know not— 
What social joys are there, 

What radiancy of glory, 

What light beyond compare. 

And when I fain would sing them 
My spirit fails and faints, 

And vainly would it image 
The assembly of the saints. 



The Celestial Country. 157 

They stand, those halls of Zion, 

Conjubilant with song, 
And bright with many an angel, 

And all the martyr-throng ; 

The Prince is ever in them, 

The daylight is serene, 
The pastures of the blessed 

Are decked in glorious sheen. 

There is the throne of David, 
And there, from care released, 

The shout of them that triumph, 
The song of them that feast. 

And they who with their Leader 

Have conquered in the fight, 
For ever and for ever 

Are clad in robes of white. 

Jerusalem, exulting 

On that securest shore, 
I hope thee, wish thee, sing thee, 

And love thee evermore ! 

I ask not for my merit ; 

I seek not to deny : 
My merit is destruction ; 

A child of wrath am I. 



158 Glimpses of 

But yet with faith I venture, 
And hope, upon my way ; 

For those perennial guerdons 
I labor night and day. 

The best and dearest Father, 
Who made me and who saved, 

Bore with me in defilement, 
And from defilement laved ; 

And grace, sweet grace celestial, 
Shall all its love display, 

And David's royal fountain 
Purge every sin away. 

O mine, my golden Zion, 
O lovelier far than gold, 

With laurel-girt battalions, 
And safe, victorious fold,- 

O sweet and blessed country, 
Shall I ever see thy face ? 

sweet and blessed country, 
Shall I ever win thy grace ? 

1 have the hope within me 

To comfort and to bless : 
Shall I ever win the prize itself? 
Oh, tell me — tell me yes ! 



The Celestial Country. 159 

Exult, O dust and ashes ! 

The Lord shall be thy part ; 
His only, his for ever, 

Thou shalt be, and thou art. 

Exult, O dust and ashes ! 

The Lord shall be thy part ; 
His only, his for ever, 

Thou shalt be, and thou art. 

So together we went down softly 
and not sadly into the valley of peace 
through long, weary days and feverish 
nights. 

But one night there was no fever, 
and we kept back our tears to watch 
the dear pale face, and spoke in hushed 
tones that we might catch the faintest 
word. At intervals she slept quietly; 
then her father sat upon the bed and 
raised her in his arms, that she might 
breathe more easily. 

She clasped his hand and laid it on 
Amy's head. 



160 Glimpses of the Celestial Country. 

"Your little daughter, papa dear," 
she said. 

" Yes, my darling, for your sake." 

Dear hands and lips growing cold, 
eyes closing! Ah! she opened them 
quickly, raised herself with a smile of 
ecstasy and leaned forward, hands and 
eyes uplifted as one who sees visions. 

That was all. But when we laid her 
on the pillow, with that rare smile still 
on the white face, we could only say, 

"Thank God!" 



THE END. 



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